


Against All We Know

by evilqueenofgallifrey (MayFairy)



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/F, aro spectrum Rani bc that's important, bickering science ladies with lowkey competence kinks, falling into snark, first two chapters are gen if you want to see them interact without the femslash, i'd say gal pals but whether they actually like each other is completely up for debate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-01-07 22:07:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 68,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1124929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayFairy/pseuds/evilqueenofgallifrey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The Doctor thought that he had seen it all, but Kate Stewart in bed with the Rani would probably have to take the cake as officially the strangest thing to ever happen in the history of the universe." </p><p>Science leads. </p><p>Kate Stewart runs into a grumpy amoral Time Lady, is unsure of how to proceed, and learns that somehow her life was quite boring before the smug pain in the arse dropped out of the sky. The Rani learns that while humans are certainly as stupid as she'd always thought, there's one she hates a little less than all the others. </p><p>Post-Day of the Doctor, incorporating relevant episodes afterwards. Also has a focus on Kate's complicated relationship with her family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let's Try Not To Argue

 

For Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the end of the day had not come a moment too soon. With a sigh of utter relief, she packed away her files and left the Tower of London with thoughts only of her bed. National security could wait until tomorrow.

Her apartment was only a ten minute walk from the Tower of London, for practicality. But she had only walked halfway when she came to a stop. It was probably nothing, but she couldn't shake the idea that one of the pillars next to her was somehow odd. When she approached the one that was irritating her, she realised the problem. It was exactly like the others in every way - except for the fact that before today it had not been there. Of this she was sure. 

Her hand reached out to touch it. The pillar hummed and she would have been baffled if she hadn't felt that hum once before, from the Doctor's TARDIS. Perhaps that's what it was, another TARDIS. She had heard something about most TARDIS' supposedly being able to change shape, but that the Doctor's was faulty somehow.

Before she could make a decision about what to do or think about it, a nearby voice made her jump.

"Hands off," said a very short, very cross looking woman standing a few feet away. "That's not yours."

"I take it I can't say the same," Kate said mildly, and her guess seemed to have merit if the other woman's tiny smirk was anything to go by.

"No," she replied somewhat wryly.

"Are you a Time Lord?"

The small woman was entirely caught by surprise. "Yes." Then she recovered from the shock and frowned. "Let me guess...you're an acquaintance of that bumbling idiot, the Doctor."

"He's hardly a bumbling idiot, but yes," Kate answered. "How can you be here? I thought you were all dead or locked in a single moment in time."

"Escaping from a stasis cube is not terribly tricky, if you've got the brain and the right kind of help," the woman said offhandedly, but her cool demeanour was interrupted by a sudden coughing fit that had her bending over double.

"Are you alright?" Before Kate could lend a helping hand, she was swotted away.

"Three days ago I got out of the greatest war in the history of the universe, if I were alright, I'd be lying," she snapped.

"You said you had help."

"Yes, the Master is quite ingenious in the very rare instances that he can focus." Seeing Kate's alarmed face, the woman chuckled a little. "I take it you are familiar with him. I wouldn't be worried, he helped with my escape but said he had his own way out. Told me there was a planet in the Tornado Nebula he'd always wanted dominion over, so assuming he did get out, that's probably what he's up to."

"That's very reassuring to hear," Kate said. "There are too many files in our database about the incidents that would occur when he decided to drop in."

The Gallifreyan woman leaned on the pillar, breathing heavily and looked tired, but no less alert. "And what database might that be?"

Kate hesitated, but decided that just giving her the name couldn't hurt. "UNIT."

"Ah yes. Unified International Taskforce?"

"Unified Intelligence Taskforce."

"Intelligence? You lot?" The Time Lord sneered. "From what I recall, you're just a bunch of trigger happy soldiers who think they know about aliens. And you don't even look like  _that_."

"I'm for all intents and purposes their commanding officer. And it's different now, an organisation as opposed to a military. We still have the soldiers, yes, but it's under my regime."

"Which is what?" It was obvious that she wasn't expecting much of an answer.

"Science leads," Kate said simply. In response, she got raised eyebrows and a minuscule nod.

"Perhaps you're a fraction less idiotic than I thought. Regardless, I'd best be going. I think this body has about ten minutes left to live, and I have calibrations inside to get done first."

"Wait," the human blurted, "Do you have a name? A title, like the Doctor?"

"I am the Rani," came the reply. With that and a swish of strawberry blonde hair, she disappeared behind the pillar, which dematerialised silently half a minute later.

So with a head no longer solely concerned with bed, Kate Stewart continued on her way home.

* * *

Two months later, Kate was walking through the National Gallery with a cup of tea, half as a lunch break and half as a way of assuring herself that all was well there after the Zygon fiasco three months before.

So when she rounded a corner and spotted a statue that she had never seen before, she was naturally quite suspicious. She may not be the curator, but she would have known if a new piece of art had arrived.

"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart."

Kate turned around to see a woman she had never seen before leaning against the opposite wall. But there was something in the alert eyes, the smirk, and the enigma of the statue. She suddenly had a very good idea who she was talking to.

"The Rani, I take it?"

She got a nod for an answer, and Kate nodded slowly back. She knew about regeneration, obviously, her father had probably met more versions of the Doctor than anyone else – except for perhaps that Sarah Jane Smith. But seeing regeneration on someone who wasn't the Doctor, and remembering that it wasn't just the quirk of one extraordinary man but a normal life process for an entire species…

The Rani was no longer absurdly tiny, which had to be a relief to the woman. Her now longer hair was auburn and tied into an extremely tight braid that hung over her shoulder. While her previous body had barely looked thirty, this one was more around mid forties. Her face was mature and not exactly pretty but definitely not ugly either. Instead, unique…and the kind of face that made one want to stare and decipher its secrets.

But Kate Lethbridge-Stewart did not stare, or let an alien render her a gaping codfish – not that she was doing anything of the sort.

The Rani's sharp grey eyes watched her with something close to amusement. "You catch on quickly for an ape," her new and lower voice said.

"It's not difficult to work out."

"No, but you humans have difficulty with the most basic of thought processes."

"How do you know my name? I didn't give it to you before."

The Time Lady shrugged. "I looked you up. Almost interesting, that your father was the esteemed Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart so often affiliated with the Doctor and the Master. Not that I take interest in many Earth affairs, but I did have a lengthy school education in which UNIT was briefly mentioned in our studies of other planets, and they did come to involve members of my own race."

"If you're not interested in this place, why have you come to it twice now?" Kate countered, and the other woman just frowned.

"My usual planet of residence has been…contaminated. Ruined by the Time War. Habitable, sure, but now in complete chemical imbalance. Useless for my work now!" She said with a huff, sounding very brassed off.

"You didn't live on Gallifrey?"

"Of course not! Bunch of snivelling moronic politicians, the lot of them."

"Then which planet did you live on?" Not that it was likely to be one that Kate had heard of, but it seemed polite to ask.

"Miasimia Goria," the Rani said, with a mix of pride and disdain in her tone. "I had the entire population enslaved and forced to help me with my work. It was almost perfect for my experiments. And now look at me. I was aiming for the Cretaceous period, and my TARDIS is so battered that it landed me here instead! This is the Doctor's territory, and I don't care for it in the slightest."

Kate lifted an eyebrow at 'entire population enslaved' but blinked and let it pass. "If you don't care for it, why don't you just leave?"

"The atom accelerator spun out, it hasn't recalibrated yet, probably won't for another half an hour. I'm stuck in this miserable hole of a place."

"Well then, it looks like you'll spending the next half an hour standing there and feeling sorry for yourself," Kate told her, wondering why either of them were bothering with each other's company in the first place, "Unless you decide to look on the bright side and go have some food or look at a few of the art pieces. Which might be marginally less miserable than not doing so."

With that, she walked off without bothering to see if the alien took her advice. Most likely not.

* * *

Two weeks down the line, Kate was sitting on her favourite bench at the Tower of London and watching the ravens when someone sat down next to her. When she saw who it was, she sighed.

"For someone who claims to find this place miserable, you tend to turn up here quite a lot," Kate said to the Rani, who was eyeing the ravens suspiciously.

"Why do you have mechanical ravens?" She asked, ignoring the woman's statement.

"Does it matter?"

"No."

"Then why did you ask?"

The Rani didn't answer.

Kate glanced sideways at her. "Why are you here?"

"Because my TARDIS has malfunctioned  _again_  and you seem to be the only person in this city even half worth speaking to," the Rani muttered. Kate wasn't sure whether it was a twisted compliment or not, but it certainly sounded like one.

"Where's your TARDIS this time?"

"Covent Garden." 

There was a brief silence until Kate spoke up. "Are you a scientist?"

"Biochemist."

The blonde nodded. "I see. And you can't do your work somewhere like here instead of that planet?"

"Not unless you want a bunch of violent, idiotic men starting fights and riots in the streets…such are the side-effects of my experiments on humans," the Rani said, her lip curling, "Not that I would have qualms about doing it, but in the past when I have used this planet I have tended to use time periods in the middle of wars so as to not draw attention to myself."

"No, I wouldn't want that," Kate said, still rather unsure how she felt about the alien woman next to her. Sometimes she seemed intriguing and at other times quite disturbing. "It occurs to me that there must be as much variation in Time Lords and their morality as there is in humans. And knowing that you were an ally of the Master…in all honesty, how would the Doctor react to finding out that I've been speaking to you? Because obviously the two of you have met."

The Rani laughed. It was an odd sound, low and throaty. "He's the forgiving type. I've not attempted anything massively 'inhumane' on lower species recently, so I think that he would be confused, but not overly worried for your safety, if that's what you wanted to know."

It was, but Kate had no intentions of admitting so. Then again, there was a good chance that the Rani was lying to her anyway, so it hardly mattered. 

"I see. How long are you stuck here for this time?"

"At least 24 hours," the Rani muttered, one of her hands clenching into a fist.

"In that case, perhaps you would care to join me for lunch." It was odd enough for Kate just to ask, but the Time Lady looked utterly bemused at the offer.

"And why on Earth would I want to have lunch with you? Or vice versa, for that matter."

"You have nothing better to do and I imagine that you'll make for interesting conversation," Kate replied. Then she got up and motioned for a distant Osgood to approach. "Call ahead and ask my regular to put me at a table for two today. I'll be there shortly."

"Yes, Ma'am," the girl said with a nod. Kate thanked her and turned to look at the Rani.

"Are you coming?"

The dark haired woman just sighed and rose from the bench. "I suppose so, but you're paying, I don't have a single piece of currency on me."

The walk there was completely silent. Finally they arrived at the small but upmarket café where Kate had lunch alone every day. Most people would find such a thing lonely, but Kate found it a pleasant place to be able to gather her thoughts and take a short break from having her attention demanded by absolutely everybody. She loved her job and was extremely dedicated to it, but being so important could be rather draining.

She led the Rani over to a table by the window and sat down, gesturing for the other woman to do the same. The alien did so hesitantly and almost reluctantly. She looked as though she regretted coming already. Her grey eyes darted around the room, resting on every human inside it in turn.

It occurred to Kate that being entirely surrounded by aliens – as that would be how it felt – was not necessarily the most calming experience. Not even for someone as disdainful and arrogant as the Rani seemed to be.

"So, of what nature were the experiments you carried out on that planet? Miasigoria?"

"Miasimia Goria," the Rani corrected, her eyes finally settling on Kate. "And why do you want to know?"

"Well, Time Lords are geniuses. I happen to believe the Doctor to be one of if not  _the_ greatest mind in the universe-" Her words made the Rani snort, "-but you consider him a bumbling idiot. Naturally, then, I am curious about you and your scientific exploits."

"I take a great interest in altering the biochemistry in the bodies of other species, but also enjoy investigating the chemicals of the brain," the Time Lady replied, "The brain and its functions are obviously fascinating. Even the human brain. Actually, I will admit that the human brain is one of the most interesting of all."

"How so?"

"All those things that interfere with it. Protective instinct over one's young – though that one is common enough and understandable from an evolutionary perspective. Hormones. Pheromones. Lust.  _Love_." The last word was said with a noticeable amount of scorn.

"Are you trying to tell me that Time Lords experience none of those things?" Kate asked sceptically.

"Hormones, no. Pheromones, occasionally. Lust?" Her mouth curled into a smirk. "Generally looked down upon as a waste of time or giving into primitive instincts."

"And love?"

"Holding any sort of strong sentiment for another person is weak. There are occasional exceptions, but I think it scared them."

Kate blinked in surprise. The idea of a superior race being scared by something so trivial was absurd. "In what way?"

"It can't be explained by science, not even by ours. That alone is almost close to our sort of blasphemy," the Rani explained. "Also, my race tend to be inherently self-serving and self-absorbed."

"But the Doctor seems like an _incredibly_ loving person. The love he has for his companions, and for this entire planet…"

"The Doctor is an anomaly, a renegade who like me and some others, found those on Gallifrey terribly dull and so left." The Rani paused as two cups of tea were brought to the table and placed in front of them. Once the server had left, she resumed. "He feels in a way that the rest of us could not begin to comprehend. He  _cares_. Why he cares so completely for this planet in particular, I have no idea."

"I always thought that it was the people. The kind of people that travel with him."

"I met a whiny, loud American with more breasts than brains, and a pathetic ginger with terrible taste in clothing. Neither were impressive in the slightest, except perhaps in their unwavering trust in the idiot."

Kate frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I believe that his taste has improved. His current companion, Clara Oswald, is more than a match for him in every way. And before that, he had a young married couple who definitely kept him in line."

The Rani's lips twitched, and her grey eyes held a glint of amusement. "I very much approve of how you speak of him as if he needs a babysitter."

"Well-"

"He does. Such has been the case since he was an adolescent."

"You've known him a long time then," Kate remarked.

"The Doctor, the Master and I were all at school together. The two of them were best friends, completely inseparable. Not that it lasted, but you are aware of how the nature of _that_  relationship turned out, no doubt."

The blonde nodded. They had become worst enemies, of course, but her father had always made it sound as though he had suspected there was even more to it than _that_ , but that he honestly hadn't wanted to know. "You're rather forthcoming for someone who claims to not be overly fond of us."

"Well, it's not exactly personal information," the Rani said.

"You said that I was the only human worth talking to around here. What makes me so different?"

"You're not  _so_  different, but rather just different enough."

"Even so, I still don't see why I'm worth your time."

"You're not, but as you said, I don't have anything better to do," the Rani said wryly. "Besides, I think I could always conduct a sort of investigation of my own."

"An investigation of what?"

The Rani took a brief sip of her tea before making a face and putting it back on the table. "You claim that the Doctor's interest in this planet is the people. Therefore, I think I will see if any of its inhabitants impress me enough to make me reevaluate my opinion."

"I think that's a great idea," Kate said honestly, "In a whole planet of nearly seven billion people, one of them is bound to keep your interest somehow."

"I think one already has," the Rani said, her eyes meeting Kate's brown ones as they widened slightly in surprise. "Or at least enough to warrant further investigation."

"Me?" Kate felt it necessary to be sure of her meaning. When the other woman nodded, she frowned. "Look, I'm rather busy and there wouldn't be a lot of opportunities for you to 'investigate' me. Secondly, why on Earth have I kept your interest, of all people in the whole history of this place? Surely someone like Richard Dawkins or Einstein would be far more up your alley?"

The Rani seemed to find that immensely funny for some reason and began sniggering. "No."

"Well, why me?"

"I'd have thought it was obvious. Head of Scientific Research at a military that specialises in aliens. You have all those men under your control, and you've changed them to how you want them to be.  _Science leads._ " She tilted her head to regard Kate with quiet interest. "Has it ever occurred to you, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, that you're almost remarkable for a human?"

Kate blinked and then just stared as she tried to form an answer in her head. "I'm just a woman who does a necessary job because I don't trust anyone else to do it."

The Rani scowled. "Your humility is irritating. The only thing worse than someone overestimating their own skills is someone underestimating them when they deserve recognition."

"If I'm so irritating, then don't investigate me," Kate said mildly, thinking it would likelier be much easier for her mental well-being if this woman didn't keep popping up.

The alien frowned. "Tempting..." She shook her head as a small smile settled on her lips. "But no. It may be irritating but somehow, I think your complete humility may be the key as to why you do such a good job. And I looked you up, so I know that you do."

"Well, as long as you realise that there are certain parts of my day that you can't interrupt for national security reasons...I suppose don't see any reason why you can't 'investigate' me."

"I expected you to be much less accepting of someone barging into your life."

"My reasons are simple enough. You are judging the entirety of humanity on me. Therefore, if I can impress you, in theory you'll be impressed by humanity, and might be willing to come to its aid should it need your expertise. Having one Time Lord for an ally is invaluable - imagine if we had two. And by the sounds of your history, I really don't want you as an adversary of any kind."

The Rani smirked. "And that, Lethbridge-Stewart, is why you are in charge."

Kate tentatively smiled back. Borderline friendly or not, the Rani was incredibly intimidating and she certainly wasn't quite comfortable around her just yet. Not afraid, exactly, just unable to be relaxed.

Just like with the tea, food arrived without them having ordered. Kate was such a regular that they knew exactly what to send her on each day of the week. With her guest, they merely sent out two of everything.

The Rani picked at her chicken salad with a frown as Kate ate. By the time the food was cleared away, Kate realised that the alien had eaten most of the salad but none of the meat.  _Perhaps she's a vegetarian,_ the woman considered. After all, the Doctor was a sort of special case. She had no idea what Time Lords usually ate.

Finally, the Rani stood up. "Well, I'll be on my way. My TARDIS might not be able to go anywhere just yet but there is still much more to be done there than anything this city could offer me." She gave Kate an odd, tiny smile. "I imagine we'll be seeing each other again soon enough."

"Alright then," Kate replied, and the Rani just nodded and left without another word.

* * *

Six days later, Kate was in her office going over the paperwork of the latest alien incursion when Osgood came in.

"Kate, that scientist you wanted to interview is here," she said.

"Of course, bring her in," the blonde said with a nod. Osgood nodded and ducked back out only to return ten seconds later with another woman.

"Doctor Frey, this is Kate Stewart, Head of Scientific Research," the girl said.

Kate looked up from her report that needed to be sent to Geneva to see someone very familiar indeed standing next to her assistant. It took all of her self-control to not start in surprise and she was rather impressed with herself that she had managed to keep her face blank.

"Doctor Rani Frey," the auburn haired woman said with a slight glint in her eyes, "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Stewart."

Kate blinked and held out a hand for her to shake. 'Doctor Frey' hesitated for a moment – possibly to remember the greeting custom of the planet, Kate considered – before shaking it briefly.

"Welcome, have a seat," Kate said rather stiffly, and then looked at Osgood. "Thank you, Osgood, that will be all for now."

Once the girl had left and shut the door behind her, Kate leaned forward in her chair. "What exactly do you think you're doing?" She demanded.

"I believe I was applying for a position as one of your researchers," the Rani answered, looking rather amused by the whole thing. "About the woman who was supposed to be applying…she is indisposed."

"Unharmed, I hope," Kate said pointedly, and the Rani nodded.

"I'm under the impression that murder tends to get your species rather tetchy, and so avoided it. Small memory wipe, nothing serious."

Kate rubbed her temples as she tried to process what was happening. "Why on Earth do you want a job here anyway? Sounds like your worst nightmare."

"Yes and no," the Rani said, "Being surrounded by morons who think highly of themselves is far from pleasant or tolerable. But my TARDIS will be able to do more advanced repairs if it stays in the same place for a longer period of time. Besides, I don't back out of an investigation, and ours is barely underway. This allows me to be in closer proximity to observe you and your behaviour."

The reminder of the fact that a superior alien life form was judging her species and the entire planet off her and her merits was an unpleasant one, and Kate immediately felt rather ill. If the Rani wasn't pleased or impressed, god only knew what she could do the planet if she felt like it.

"You'll have to pretend to be human," Kate told her, only to get a nod as an answer.

"I am aware. But I don't intend to converse with many of the apes around here, so it's not a vital point. Will I have my own laboratory?"

Kate sighed and nodded. After all, she could hardly say no. "Yes, that can be arranged. I can also try and get you the best equipment that I can, so that you're less restricted by this time period's technology."

The Rani smiled. "Thoughtful, but unnecessary. I intend to keep my TARDIS in the corner of the laboratory and merely use the equipment in there as I see fit."

"Well, that will certainly cost us less money and fuss, so I'm not going to argue." The human looked up at the woman sitting across from her. "Well, Rani, it seems that you have yourself a job at the Unified Intelligence Taskforce."

"Now that I'm here, the intelligence in the name might actually be valid," the Rani remarked as she got up from her chair.

Kate was torn between offense and amusement, but the latter won out and she chuckled, albeit reluctantly. The Rani just gave her a smug smile, apparently pleased that she found the comment amusing.

* * *

"So how is it going in here?"

By visual inspection, it was either going very well or very badly, because the room was brimming with wires and bubbling beakers and pieces of equipment that Kate couldn't even begin to recognise.

"Hard to say," the Rani said. She was in the middle of the fray, her hair up in a tight bun and goggles over her eyes. "It's certainly  _going_ but that is as much verdict as I can currently offer."

"What are you actually doing?"

"Would you be likely to understand?"

"I suppose not."

"Well then."

Kate glanced around the room and spotted three different cupboards that had TARDIS potential, but she made a guess that the one with wires protruding from the open door was the real deal.

"Do you think that Silurians would be likely to offer me a few samples of their brain fluid?" The Rani asked. "I want to compare it with that of the dinosaurs of the same era. I don't think they would take too kindly to such a suggestion."

"I've never encountered them myself, only read the files from 1970, so I wouldn't know, unfortunately."

"This lot ran into them in 1970?" For the first time, the Time Lady actually looked up, looking rather surprised and intrigued. "Now that  _is_ interesting. What happened?"

"My father…he thought they were threatening the humans," Kate said slowly, realising how reluctant she was to speak of what her father had done, "He had orders…to blow the base up." She expected the Rani to look saddened or horrified. Instead the woman just sighed and went back to her work.

"It was to be expected. Your race has an uncanny ability to resort to violence and killing when they only  _think_ they are faced with danger."

"This coming from the woman who talks about killing and human testing and enslavement like they are trivial matters," Kate retorted, surprising herself with how indignant she suddenly felt.

"I've only done those things to creatures that are below me, your  _father_ and his lot killed creatures who were  _far_ superior to themselves and might have actually been able to repair the amount of damage you've done to your planet!"

For a moment, Kate just stared at the other woman. Then, with no words that could express her anger and hurt, she turned and left the room without another word.

* * *

Just shy of two weeks later, Kate was just leaving the café after her lunch when she practically collided with the Rani.

"So you  _are_ here. Good," the Time Lady remarked.

"What do you want?" Kate asked, not bothering to hide how tired and cross she felt. Talking to the occasionally horrid and always condescending alien was not something she particularly felt like doing. She had been  _quite_ happy going without her company for as long as she had. 

"My investigation. It requires us to actually spend, as you humans would call it, quality time together. Observing you from afar only works so well."

_I couldn't care less about your investigation,_ Kate wanted to tell her. Of course, it wasn't true. The part of her that was the Head of Scientific Research at UNIT knew all too well how important it was to keep the Rani amiable. And, if she was being completely honest, about half of the part of her that was just Kate Stewart was still curious as to why the Rani found her somehow more interesting than all the other humans on the planet in any given time period.

Besides, her father had dealt with Time Lords. There was no reason that she couldn't do the same.

Of course, at least her father had known where he had stood. The Doctor was a friend and ally. The Master had been a threat, not to be trusted, known to not have any care for anyone.

But the Rani? The Rani was complex. She would sit across a café table and smile while making friendly enough conversation, but then bring up her past enslavement of inferior species on a distant planet, and experiments in war zones that meddled with human minds. She was neither an enemy nor a friend.

_Time Lords,_ said a voice in her head that sounded a lot like her father,  _pests, the lot of them, in one way or another. Best left to their own devices if possible._

Unfortunately, that wasn't currently an option. Kate sighed.

"What did you have in mind?"

The Rani bristled. " _I_  don't know. This is your city, not mine."

"What about a museum? We've got quite a few, all of them excellent." Perhaps if they were walking around exhibits, there wouldn't be a need to make an excess amount of conversation, and there would be less opportunity for the Rani to insult humanity and push Kate's current wary uncertainty about her into active dislike.

"What are the museums like? A wheel, a fire, a car and a plane? The summary of human discovery?"

Kate glanced away, doing her best to ignore the slight. "Well, there's the Science Museum-"

"Oh, yes, human science," the Rani said, her voice blatantly mocking, "Fascinating.  _Children_ of my world would be bored within ten minutes."

"The Natural History Museum?"

"What's in there?"

"Various specimens of the natural history of this planet. Botany, zoology, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology-"

"Paleontology?" The Rani asked sharply. "Prehistoric life? Dinosaurs?"

"Yes. Huge skeletons and everything," Kate said, nodding.

The Rani nodded too, actually looking somewhat interested at the prospect. "Then we'll go there."

By the time they walked there, they had just settled into a silence that was comfortable. Once they got inside, Kate got maps for both of them, and handed the Rani's to her. They walked into the first room and the Rani's eyes ran over everything before turning to the map in her hands, which she apparently also found very interesting.

Despite showing the most interest in the dinosaurs, the Rani appeared to enjoy almost all of the exhibits as they went through the museum, having not reached the dinosaurs yet. Kate couldn't resist commenting.

"I wouldn't have thought this stuff would be interesting to you," she said, making the Rani tear her eyes from the walls to look at her instead, "Superior science and knowledge considered."

It looked as though the Rani wanted to defend herself, but didn't know how. "My knowledge might cover a lot of this, but in a different way."

"How?"

"What I know of this comes from a general study. This is separate. Specialised. Entirely different perspective, which is very important in this sort of field. Seeing it isolated, in relation to the other parts of itself…" She suddenly trailed off and didn't continue. Kate almost let it slide until she looked at the Rani's face and saw the reluctance in her expression. The blonde had to grin.

"It's interesting," she finished for her companion, her voice triumphant, "You're enjoying this."

The Rani turned away so that Kate couldn't see her face. "Perhaps I am. It means nothing."

"If telling yourself that makes you feel better, then by all means do so," Kate told her, unable to keep the smugness out of it. She wasn't usually a smug person in the least, but interacting with this woman was such a battle that getting a step ahead like this was just too sweet.

Unsurprisingly, the Rani chose not to answer her, and instead pressed on through the museum, leaving Kate to trail behind. That was when they finally reached the dinosaur skeletons. The huge structures took up most of the room, and the different forms were all incredible to behold, even for Kate, who had no specific interest in dinosaurs and had seen the skeletons before anyway.

But when she looked over at the Rani, she was surprised to see a light in her eyes that almost looked like a childish delight. It only lasted for a few moments before the woman was back to regarding the exhibits around her with a more scientific gaze. But even that held more life and passion in it than Kate had ever seen in her, and most likely would ever see again.

After several minutes, Kate asked her quietly, with genuine interest, "What is it about dinosaurs that you like so much?"

The Rani turned, eyeing her with vague surprise, probably at Kate expressing curiosity in her personal opinions and feelings. "Their potential was never realised," she answered, her eyes drifting back to the huge Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that towered in front of them, "It's a personal…preference that is difficult to explain."

"You don't have to explain wasted potential," Kate replied. "It's one of the most tragic things to exist. To see something that could have been so magnificent…only for that possibility to be lost."

The Time Lady blinked, only to frown afterwards. "I suppose it isn't as difficult as I believed. You humans can be so dense that it's never easy to tell."

Kate decided then and there that any further insults to her race were simply to be ignored. It wasn't worth being bothered by them. The backhanded compliments and veiled superiority were not likely to stop any time soon.

"Well, I personally don't see the potential magnificence of the dinosaurs, but I'm just a human, so what would I know?" She asked.

"Magnificence is hardly the right word. It's far too romantic."

"What's the point in being passionate about something if you don't have at least a little bit of romantic notion?"

The Rani rolled her eyes. "Chemists are not romantic. I am no exception."

"Really? I had no idea."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I love Mel and Peri intensely, but the Rani was never going to have a high opinion of them, hence the nature of her comments about them. 
> 
> In case anyone cares, this is roughly how I picture this version of the Rani: 


	2. A Critic and a Sceptic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kate and the Rani find ways to pass the time when put into a sort of quarantine, Kate is unsure about a lot of things, and the Rani samples Earth literature and reality television.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "She's a Lady" by Forever the Sickest Kids.

When Kate Stewart arrived on the scene, she saw a group of frantic human scientists outside their research building, and one irritated Time Lady trying to argue with the soldiers who were not allowing her back inside.

“As you are all now most likely aware,” the blonde said to them all, raising her voice, “A Slitheen managed to infiltrate us and fit several of our buildings with a chemical weapon. Unfortunately, we have all been partially or briefly exposed and now must hope that the effects aren’t potent enough to cause us real harm. No one is permitted to re-enter the buildings for their own safety. Everyone is to return home and avoid contact with anyone. Go home, keep to yourself, shower to try and get the chemicals off, and then stay put for 48 hours. After that, effects will be evaluated and we can proceed from there.”

There was muttering amongst the group, but it wasn’t as though they could argue with her. As they began to disperse, the Rani came up to Kate.

“And what about me? My home is in there, and you’re not allowing me back in,” she said, not bothering to hide how annoyed she was by the whole situation.

“Yes, well…” Kate frowned. “I can’t have you wandering around. You’ll have to come with me.”

“Where?”

“To my apartment. I still have to undergo the 48 hour evaluation period, and it wouldn’t kill you to do the same, even though your superior biology means that you are likely to be fine. And I don’t trust you with anyone else.”

* * *

Kate’s apartment was ten stories up and full of natural light, spacious yet cosy. Usually she felt immediately better just for being in it, but not today. Today she had dangerous chemicals and a potentially volatile Time Lady to worry about.

The Rani didn’t look impressed by the apartment so much as vaguely interested. It wasn’t likely that she had been inside a huge amount of human residences. What were houses like on Gallifrey anyway?

“Well, I’ll take the first shower, and then while you’re in, I’ll come up with something for us to eat,” Kate suggested. “I’ll be quick, but I need to be thorough too. Just…make yourself at home.” As she left for the bathroom, she saw the Rani cast her eyes around the room before sitting at the small dining table awkwardly. Kate shook her head and hurried into the bathroom. She turned on the shower, undressed and got in. It was tempting to stay there indefinitely, but she couldn’t risk leaving the Rani alone for too long. So she grabbed some soap and began scrubbing furiously at her skin, hoping that she got every inch and rid it of any excess chemicals.

She stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself before leaving the bathroom and going to her bedroom to throw on a new blouse and a new pair of slacks. She decided against shoes, and came out into the kitchen area.

Seeing the Rani in her apartment was an odd sight, even though it was expected. In her high heeled boots, tight leggings, long shirt and metallic jacket, she couldn't have looked domestic if she had tried. On the contrary, she really did look otherworldly. The long braid of auburn hair and unconventional but unforgettable facial features only emphasised her lack of belonging in the setting around her.

“You can go in now.” Kate crossed over to the kitchen cupboards and began looking for something that might be usable for dinner. “There’s a spare towel in there which you can use. I’ll find some spare clothes of mine that you can wear.”

The Rani sounded as though she was grumbling under her breath, but when Kate turned around again, she was leaving the room and pulling the tie off the end of her braid.

The inhabitant of the apartment went back to food, but all she could find was some canned vegetables and some bread that had gone off. Such were the dangers of being a workaholic who barely ate at home. So instead, Kate grabbed the phone and ordered some Chinese instead, asking specifically for one of the containers to be vegetarian only – she recalled the Rani not eating chicken at the café and thought it was safer to guess that she was a vegetarian of some kind.

Her wardrobe wasn’t massively full of anything other than trouser suits – none of which she was keen on sharing – but she did find some old jeans and a plain navy shirt that would do well enough. She laid them out on the bed. She then considered something else before deciding that she wasn’t going to give the Rani any of her underwear because the concept was too strange. No, she could just keep the clothes when she was done.

She returned to the living area and five minutes later, the Rani emerged, wearing the jeans and shirt. Her hair was loose for the first time that Kate had seen, long and dark and falling down her back in very damp strands.

“What are you going to do with my clothes?” The alien asked. “Those are my favourite boots.”

“Unfortunately, if there are detrimental effects are 48 hours, we’ll need to burn them,” Kate admitted. The Rani didn’t look pleased. But due to the absence of the aforementioned boots, she was suddenly shorter than Kate was used to. They were exactly the same height. Trying to not let such a small thing disconcert her, she coughed and went back to what she had been about to say. “I’ve ordered Chinese food. Are you a vegetarian?”

The Rani blinked and looked at her with surprise. “Yes, most Time Lords are.”

“Good,” Kate said with a pleased smile, “Because I thought so, and I ordered you a vegetarian dish.”

“I take it you noticed that I didn’t eat the meat in the café.”

“Yes.”

The Rani smiled back. “You might just do yet, Stewart.”

Kate nodded, glad to have been right. She went to her cupboard and found an old bottle of wine that she couldn’t even remember buying. “Want a drink?”

“Sure,” Her guest said, looking amused. So Kate took two glasses and poured the red liquid out before handing one of the glasses to her. “This is actually better than I expected. I suppose if there’s something I can expect from a primitive culture, it’s good alcohol.”

Kate surprised herself by laughing. “You think that I would be used to your backhanded compliments by now.”

“I’d have thought so as well,” the Rani agreed, “Though I suppose it means that if I ever give you a real compliment, you will value it that much more.” Her eyes darted to the door that led out onto the balcony. “Could we go outside? I’d be glad of the fresh air.”

“Of course.”

“If you can call it fresh with the amount of pollution in this city, that is. Though I suppose I’ve encountered worse.”

Kate chose not to comment on that.

They went to stand out on the balcony, leaning against the railing with their wine glasses. The sun was starting to set and the rays of colour that decorated the sky over London were stunning.

“I suppose this is one of those picturesque sights that the Doctor would call beautiful,” the Rani said, making the woman next to her wonder if she truly didn’t find it beautiful, or whether she was trying to find a less direct way of admitting it.

“You don’t think it is?”

“If you’d seen a Gallifreyan sunset, you’d understand.”

“Why, what did they look like?”

The Rani frowned. “There are two suns, the second of which sets in the north. The sky is burnt orange, so come sunset and sunrise, it is streaked with gold and silver. And if the light hits the trees just right, it looks like they have burst into flames.” She looked at Kate, who realised that she was staring and was quick to look back out to her own sunset which seemed a little more mundane than it had before. “I suppose if anything is beautiful, it’s that. But I’ve never put a lot of stock into beauty. The sunset paints a perfect picture, true, but it can’t erase the fact that the planet is full of pompous, frigid, metathesiophobic morons.”

For a few moments Kate was unsure of how to reply, and her gaze stayed fixed on the other woman, trying to understand. “Why don’t you value beauty? The people on this planet might put too much stock into it, sure, but without it, what’s the point? Where’s the point in being alive if you can’t find something beautiful?”

“You find knowledge.”

“Why not both? The way I see it, knowledge satisfies your brain, but beauty satisfies your heart.”

“Well, I have two hearts, it explains why I’m so difficult to please.”

Kate just shook her head and laughed a little. She looked over at the other woman, and realised, with a jolt, that the Rani was actually rather striking. The rays of the setting sun cast shadows on the angles and lines of her face and made her grey eyes almost glow. The red in her hair sparkled in the light and her lips were set in an odd, ironic smile, different because they were bare as opposed to their usual painted crimson.

The unexpected beauty caught Kate off-guard and she felt a strange and foreign weight in her stomach.

Luckily, a knock from inside shook her from her thoughts and shattered the surprising moment.

Quickly, she hurried to the door to take the Chinese food and shove money in the delivey boy’s hand before shutting the door in his face. She couldn’t risk infecting anyone with the chemicals, after all.

“The food’s here,” she called out to the Rani, who came inside. They lay out the food and sat at the dining table to eat in a considerable amount of silence. With a small amount of satisfaction, Kate noted that the Rani ate quickly almost looked to enjoy the meal, especially considering that she finished her entire dish.

“So, to clarify,” the Rani finally said as she put her empty plate to the side and picked up her wine glass, “You’re not permitting either of us to leave this apartment for the next 46 hours and 35 minutes.”

Kate frowned. “Yes.”

“Did it occur to you that you hold no actual authority over me and that I could simply walk out of that door any time that I pleased?”

It had, but Kate had tried to ignore that line of thinking. She evenly held the Rani’s somewhat smug gaze. “I might not hold authority over the Rani, but I do hold authority over Doctor Rani Frey. Leave here against my permission and I would have the right to fire you.”

“And my world would be shattered,” the Rani said with dripping sarcasm.

Kate sighed, and said, “If you wish to leave, I can’t really stop you and we both know it.”

The other woman leant back in her chair and took a long, slow sip of wine from her glass. “Yes, but I don’t.”

“Then why mention it at all?”

The Time Lady smirked. “To be sure that you are always aware of where we stand.” There was a brief silence where Kate just stared and the Rani paused. “But 47 hours of direct exposure will speed my investigation along very well, and heavily decrease the amount of time I will need to remain on this planet.”

“Nothing is keeping you here, your TARDIS is practically fully repaired, you told me so yesterday,” Kate pointed out.

“I don’t abandon my investigations, no matter how much I might wish to. Whether or not either of us like it, we will have to endure each other’s company a little while yet.”

There was only one small flaw in the Rani’s words, and Kate pointed it out. “If you have to endure my company, wouldn’t that prove your investigation inconclusive?”

“It is not so much your company but the company that tends to form around you. I have no interest in any of the others who tend to linger,” the Rani remarked with distaste. That was when her grey eyes scanned the apartment. “So what do you do in this place to keep yourself occupied?”

“I’m not usually here for extended periods of time,” the blonde woman admitted as she moved her leftovers to the fridge and dumped their plates in the sink to be dealt with later. “This will probably be as tiresome for me as it is for you. There’s the television, and books. I have some paperwork I need to go over, though, sorry.”

The Rani shook her head. “Coming from you, Stewart, I’d be rather disappointed if you didn’t bring your work home. Your dedication is one of your admirable qualities.”

“I’ll do most of it now, and then it’s out of the way. My bookshelf is quite extensive if you want to take a look. I have a lot of the classics.”

The Time Lady approached the bookshelf and examined its contents. “Do you only have fiction?”

“My non-fiction tends to stay at my office. Sorry if none of it is to your taste, but it’s the best I can do,” Kate told her with a shrug as she took out her paperwork and laid it on the table. Meanwhile, her guest went back to the bookcase.

“Do you have any recommendations?”

“I didn’t realise that someone such as yourself would have difficulty with something as simple as selecting a book.” When the Rani glared, Kate found herself finding it rather funny, and couldn’t hide her - slightly smug - smile. After a few second’s deliberation, she said, “Try _Lord of the Flies_. It explores the nature of humanity, and weighs it against the effects of the environment.”

“It sounds like science,” the brunette said, locating the book and turning it over in her hands, “And yet it is a book about schoolchildren getting stranded on a remote island.”

“Why don’t you just trust me? Of all of the books in the shelf, I think it is one you will enjoy,” Kate assured her associate. “Just read it.”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” the other woman said with a frown, but took the book with her to the couch. She perched there in a reasonably sophisticated position and began to read.

Ten minutes later, when Kate glanced over, the Rani looked to be completely absorbed in the text - which she was already somehow halfway through. After another ten minutes, the book shut and was placed back in the bookcase. Its reader sat on the arm of the couch silently.

Without looking up from her paperwork, Kate addressed her. “Did you finish it?” She almost added _already_ onto the question, but realised that an alien with superior intelligence was quite likely to have done so, and that there was no need to emphasise the distance between their IQs. When the Rani answered in the affirmative but gave no more information, the human woman added, “Did you enjoy it?”

“It was interesting,” the biochemist said rather reluctantly. “But it only proves my initial thoughts of you creatures to be correct. Even your children turn to killing.”

“It’s just a story.” Kate finally lifted her eyes to meet the Rani’s grey ones. “Our children would not resort to killing.”

“It’s in your blood, that crude need to lash out,” the Rani answered, pushing hair back from her face, “You realise that you are one of the only species that feels the need to kill others. Others kill prey, they have a natural food chain, but the killing of the same species doesn’t occur.”

“We’re not all killers.”

“You’re all _potential_ killers.”

“You can’t just generalise us like that!” Kate snapped. The Rani’s lip curled and the woman sneered.

“As opposed to what? All your species does is generalise because you’re all too busy to bother learning about each other’s complexities. Why put the time in to admit that everyone around you is a complex and singular being when instead you can put everyone into neat little categories and then go about your business? You don’t even respect each other, how can you expect others like me to do so?”

Kate crossed her arms, trying her very hardest not to yell at the woman opposite her. “Well now you’re just contradicting yourself. First you generalise us, then tell me that we shouldn’t generalise. _You_ put us all into neat categories and you certainly don’t spend time learning about the individual complexities of humans.”

“But it’s different, because it’s your own species. I am an observer, I can make whatever generalisations and categorizations I like.” The Rani looked as though she was trying to look tall, but in bare feet, she lacked the height and heels to quite pull it off. But despite her more ordinary look with her half damp hair and borrowed clothes, she still held herself like a queen. Or rather, a lady, which Kate had to remind herself the woman actually was. And not just any sort of lady, but a powerful and genius lady of Time, which was why she was supposed to be trying to appease her.

But she was being horrid and difficult again, and how was she supposed to put up with it?

That was when she realised that her hands had balled into fists where they had fallen to sit in her lap. She slowly relaxed them, only to catch the Rani eyeing them.

“Did I hit a nerve?” The woman asked, smirking, and it did the opposite of help Kate’s feelings of irritation and offense.

“If you insult a person’s species enough, it tends to happen,” the blonde replied icily. “Look, you clearly have no respect for my race, or me as a person and a human. This entire ‘investigation’ is pointless and ridiculous.”

The Rani just lifted an eyebrow.

“If you can’t keep your unnecessary and disrespectful comments to yourself, this isn’t going to work,” Kate continued, her voice louder and stronger, “I don’t care if you’re a Time Lady, I won’t be insulted in my own home. Either learn to deal with the humanity around you and find something positive, or show yourself out.” She wasn’t sure quite when it had happened, but she had stood, and the Rani had risen from her perch on the arm of the couch, putting them both on their feet, and precisely eye to eye.

“Did it ever occur to you, Kate, that I do respect you?”

Kate felt her chest burn curiously. It was not been the answer she had expected. Her mouth open and shut a couple of times before she shook her head and tore her eyes from her guest.

“If that is even remotely close to the truth, you have a funny way of showing it,” she murmured.

“You make it sound as though I’m used to having respect for people. It’s...shall we say...not exactly my area,” the Rani admitted wryly. “Would you be interested in hearing a little more about my past so that you might come to have a better understanding of...how I am?”

The human woman looked back at her and nodded with slightly widened brown eyes. “Yes, I would.” They sat back at the table opposite each other and pushed the paperwork to the side.

The alien sat neatly in her chair, with one leg crossed over the other. Her hands began to braid her drying hair at the same time she began to speak.

“As you know, I was born on Gallifrey and grew up on Gallifrey. I’m the same age as the Doctor, though like him, my extensive travels in time have left me being not entirely sure exactly how old that is. In my youth, I attended the Academy where I spent a century and a half or so learning about the universe. There I went by the name of Ushas. I specialised in biochemistry. At our graduation, there was an incident involving a giant rat of mine that I would rather not speak of. After graduating and choosing the name ‘the Rani’, I spent most of my time in my lab with my experiments.” The Rani finished the braid and used the band around her wrist to tie it off at the end.

“You said that you didn’t live on Gallifrey, though. How did you end up leaving?” Kate asked, having been listening very intently.

The Time Lady’s expression turned sour. “An experiment went wrong. One of my giant mice ate the Lord President’s cat.” Kate had to smother a chuckle at that. “I was exiled, but I managed to hijack the computer of the TARDIS they sent me away in, and so I became a renegade like the Doctor and many others before me.”

“And you ended up on that planet of yours, Miasimia Goria.”

“Yes.”

That was when the truth of it all hit the Brigadier’s daughter rather quickly. “You were there for centuries on your own, weren’t you?”

“There were the natives,” the Rani muttered.

“But they wouldn’t have counted - not to you,” Kate pointed out perceptively, “You were alone for all that time. You’re barely used to human - well, humanoid - interaction, let alone having professional or friendly relationships.”

“I never cared for them on Gallifrey, it made no difference.”

“Everyone needs to interact with other people.” Kate paused and stared at the woman across from her with a frown. “Even you.”

“I am...right now,” the dark haired woman pointed out. “Science always made more sense to me.”

Kate had to smile curiously at that, and it occurred to her that she also didn’t spend enough time socially with others outside of her work. “In what way?”

“Science is predictable if you’re knowledgeable enough. Even with experiments, you know most of the likely outcomes. People are complex and temperamental, ruled by their current mood and their inherent personality. All different, all difficult. And all full of things that can't be accurately measured.”

“I thought humans were supposed to be all the same, and hence predictable?”

The Rani rolled her eyes. “Most are, as are Time Lords. But the few that aren’t are difficult.”

“But as you said, Rani,” Kate recalled, “It simply requires more time to understand every singular person.” There was a hint of teasing in her tone, to her own surprise. When exactly had the Rani become easy to tease? It just suddenly seemed so normal to be doing.

The reaction she got - a tiny eye roll - only made it more obvious. The teasing didn’t even annoy her - if anything, she seemed to like having someone challenge her. Not that the Rani ever gave off even the slightest indication that she felt challenged, most likely because of her confidence in her own abilities and beliefs would not allow it or did not render it necessary.

They sat in silence for a little while, having exhausted the topic, and eventually the pair of intelligent grey eyes in front of Kate moved to the television.

“You said it would pass time?”

And so they ended up at opposite ends of Kate’s - not particularly large - couch. Their discussion began with simple inquiries from the Rani about the different varieties of programmes and movies available on the television. Kate informed her of soap operas, dramas, science fictions, game shows, news programmes, reality television, movie channels, documentaries, and anything else she could think of. But somehow, of all things...they ended up watching _The Bachelor_.

“And this is… _reality_ television?” The Rani asked thirty seconds into the show. “This is actually something that 27 women signed up for?”

“Well, yes, but it’s almost entirely fake.”

“Then why is it called reality television?”

“Because they pretend it’s real, and people are moronic enough to believe it.” At the same time, they looked at each other, knowing that they had both heard just how much Kate had sounded like the Rani when she had spoken. “...it’s true, the people who watch this are moronic,” Kate said rather defensively, pointedly not looking at her guest, who smiled crookedly.

“ _We’re_ watching it,” she reminded Kate.

“But we’re not invested in it, thinking that it is real.”

The Rani lifted an eyebrow. “So we’re watching it ironically?”

Kate paused before nodding. “Yes, exactly. It’s a chance to mock and laugh at humanity, I’d have thought that you would be pleased.”

“I don’t believe that I complained.”

The two of them shared a look of understanding and a matching small smile, before turning their heads back to the screen.


	3. Find A Way To Let You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The femslash finally kicks off. 
> 
> Chapter title from 'Find A Way' by SafetySuit.

They watched the evening news, then nature documentaries, and history documentaries. By the time they'd had as much television as they could bear, Kate suggested ice cream. Despite the Rani's initial protests, she eventually gave in and the two of them enjoyed bowls of double chocolate chip.

"The dishes will need doing," Kate said tiredly.

"I suppose I might as well help you."

"You? Doing dishes?" The human woman had begun to walk to the kitchen, but stopped and looked back incredulously.

"I am perfectly capable of doing menial tasks when necessary," the Rani said, not looking bothered. "There is no shame in simple work for the sake of cleanliness and order."

Kate found it rather odd despite the logic involved. She just shook her head and rolled her sleeves up as the sink filled with hot water. The Rani approached the kitchen sink and examined the bottle of washing liquid.

"This isn't very well made," she told her associate, "Half the chemical makeup is the colour and the fragrance, which is hardly important compared to the quality of the cleaning."

"Quit criticising and just squirt some into the sink." When the Rani did just that, Kate glanced sideways at her. "Maybe I should take you with me to the store next time I buy dishwashing liquid."

"My dedication only goes so far," came the answer, "And domestic food shopping goes much further."

"Dedication?" Kate asked with a lifted eyebrow and tiny smile. "Outside of your science experiments, it's not a word I would apply to you. Unless you mean this investigation?"

"Well what else would I mean?" The Rani murmured, taking the first washed dish from Kate and rubbing it dry with a tea towel.

Kate plunged her hands into the soapy warm water again. She didn't really know how to answer. "You make it sound like I would know. You're the most unfathomable person I've ever met." She didn't get a reply, but she was so busy waiting for one that she accidentally moved her hand too quickly. A serrated knife floating in the water ripped across her forearm in a stinging slash of an instant. "Shit!" She pulled her arm out to see a red line forming and beginning to ooze blood.

"Good job," the Rani said sarcastically, "Do you have a medical kit?"

"I think I have some plasters in the cupboard over there." She gestured vaguely and ran her arm under the cold tap to get rid of the blood. Then two plasters were handed to her, only to be snatched away a moment later.

"Actually, perhaps I best do it." The Rani peeled away the wrappers - not disguising her subtle curiosity for the simple band-aids - and laid one then the other onto the small injury. Her long fingers smoothed over the rubbery surface and onto the skin of Kate's arm, ensuring that they were properly applied. "There."

Kate thanked her in a sort of mumble and took her arm back to examine it before - carefully - going back to doing the dishes. After a minute or so, she spoke again.

"Would I be wrong in assuming that it's been centuries since you spent this much non-violent time with a person?"

"No," her guest replied, "But that was how I preferred it."

"What changed? I know you say the investigation, but to even think it up, a few things must be different now than how they were then."

The Rani frowned, and snatched the dish from Kate's hands so that she could roughly scrub at it. "Stop acting as though you know so much about me. You still don't."

"I think I know more than most," Kate said quietly, wondering when that had happened, "And I'm just trying to understand. As odd as it is, you seem to be the person I spend the most time with these days."

"And why do you think that is?"

"Because I'm too busy, usually." The blonde sighed as she finished off the last dish. "And even when I'm not, who would I be friends with? How could I possibly be interested in someone who still doesn't believe in other worlds, let alone know about my position in UNIT?"

"Don't you have a son? Doesn't he know what you do?"

Kate blinked, having not expected the Rani to know about her personal life, but then, the woman had looked her up after their first meeting. "Yes. Gordon. He knows about what I do. But he lives in Manchester now, and has a fiance. We're too busy for each other most of the time."

"And your daughter? Her father?"

"In America. They know but...don't understand." There was a brief pause before Kate turned to look at the Rani with slightly narrowed eyes. " _You_ don't have children, do you?"

The Rani actually laughed as she finished off drying the final bowl. "What do you think?"

"Honestly?" Kate asked, smirking. "I think that you're the least maternal person I've ever met, and would sooner cut off a finger than have a child."

"That just about sums it up," the other woman chuckled. Then she turned thoughtful. "But in terms of spending time with other intelligent beings...perhaps I'm less fussy in my slightly older age. Regeneration may have made some adjustments as well."

"You  _must_  be getting less fussy if you're referring to me as an intelligent being."

"I always considered you to be an intelligent being, Stewart." At Kate's incredulous look, the Rani shrugged. "For a human."

"And there it is," Kate said, throwing her soap sodden hands up, "I'm past being surprised." With her action, water and soap suds flew through the air and landed on the two women as well as the bench. But mostly Kate herself. "Urgh." She grabbed the tea towel and used it wipe the suds off of her shirt - patches of which were now slightly transparent due to the light, pale fabric of her blouse coming into contact with the water.

"This is why dishwashers were invented," the Rani grumbled, "Why don't you have one?"

"I find doing the dishes peaceful," Kate defended as she turned around to lean back against the counter instead of facing the sink set in it, "Besides, I'm not usually home to use them."

The Rani just shook her head more and rolled her eyes as she reached past her to grab the tea towel where it had been put down on the bench on the other side of Kate, who tried to push herself back against the counter to allow her more room. Just as her hand closed around the tea towel, the Rani looked up to find herself directly in front of Kate, face inches from hers, eyes locked.

As brown met grey there was an infinite moment. Both women stood very still, as if they would met great peril if they shifted even an inch. Kate - now absorbed in the cool intelligence of the Rani's eyes - found herself recalling that odd moment several hours before on the balcony. The same heaviness in her stomach returned, much to her confusion.

And then it was over and the tea towel was in the Rani's hand and the Time Lady was standing several metres away, eyeing her with curiosity. Kate frowned and rubbed her temples.

"You look tired," the brunette said to her. "Isn't it about time you were in bed?"

"I'm not sure that I'm comfortable going to sleep and just leaving you out here."

The Rani smirked. "You still don't trust me to behave?"

Kate sighed. "No. Well...maybe. I don't know. Everything about you is complicated."

"You could always contact the Doctor and ask him to try and remove me." It was plainly a joke, but interestingly enough a rather viable scenario that Kate hadn't even considered for some reason.

"I don't need his help with you," she said firmly, and then paused. "Besides, I never said I wanted you removed, just that trusting you is difficult. I'm surprised that you've managed to go this long without your laboratory."

"Not all of us have the attention span of a human child like the Doctor," the Rani haughtily said. "Most of us are very patient. We dislike waiting, but are very good at it."

"But how many others things are there for you to do if I go to bed?"

"There's an entire bookcase. Not ideal, but passable. Also, your television, if I must."

Kate couldn't help but frown again. "I'm still not comfortable with it. I don't usually have anyone over, ever. And you're not just a passive human, you're...you."

The Rani took a step closer and smiled rather smugly. "What are you afraid of, Stewart?"

"I'm not afraid of anything," Kate snapped. She was starting to feel very nervous, and couldn't fathom why. But the last thing she wanted was for the Rani to know that. To keep up the facade of confidence, she also took a step forward instead of the step back she would have preferred.

"Then why are your hands shaking?" The Rani loosely grabbed the aforementioned hands and held them up for a moment to prove her point. Kate abruptly snatched them back to her sides, trying not to ball them into fists.

She wanted to have a good comeback, to deny it or justify it or come up with some kind of excuse, but nothing came to her. Her mouth opened as she tried to speak, but nothing came out no matter how hard she tried. She was, for no understandable reason, tongue-tied.

But the Rani's smug look lasted for only a second before it shifted into something odd, something unidentifiable that did anything but help Kate's nerves.

"Look at that," she said quietly to Kate, eyeing her, "You're out of prattle."

Without knowing how it happened or who moved, suddenly their lips were touching, tentatively, like an experiment in itself. It lasted just for a moment before they both jerked away only to stare at each other. The Time Lady looked as alarmed as Kate felt, a frown on her face while Kate couldn't even bring herself to form words.

"You look like an animal confronted by headlights," the Rani said eventually, with a mix of uncertainty and amusement.

Kate's verbal block disappeared as she found herself laughing, albeit very nervously. "Of all the things for you to say," she said, feeling rather light headed.

The Rani chuckled for a moment before she became more serious. "What would you rather me say?" Her voice dipped a tone lower, and Kate found herself taking in a sudden breath.

"I...I don't know," she admitted, "I never thought...you said that your people didn't do this sort of thing. Or that you didn't." It wasn't exactly what she wanted to say, but she couldn't be sure what she _did_ want to say, and saying anything was better than being dumbstruck for the third time.

"Asexuality spectrum - a lot don't, and those that do don't do it often."

"But I'm not-" Kate stammered the words, turning rather pink. "I mean, you're a woman."

"Very observant of you."

"But I'm not - I've never been-" All at once, dozens of memories of girl crushes and repressed longing rushed to the surface, with new meaning that Kate had never even considered before. " _Oh."_

_I'm bisexual. And an idiot, apparently._

"You humans and your ridiculous categories," the Rani said, sounding both irritated and amused at the same time, though how she managed both was an utter mystery to Kate. The Time Lady took a strategic step and before Kate knew it, she was against the kitchen counter with the Rani's hands planted on the marble either side of her. "I can hear your little singular heart pounding. Your pupils are dilated. And you keep looking at my mouth. Regardless of whatever category you may think you belong in, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, you seem to be attracted to me." She leaned in so that their lips were a hair's breadth apart.

It dawned on Kate exactly what was happening. She had kissed  _the Rani_...and was a breath away from doing so again. And the oddest part was that she wanted to. This infuriating, sometimes horrid, 'superior' woman that she wasn't even sure that she liked or trusted, had suddenly become something potentially quite different. And it was terrifying.

But it was also overwhelming and a surprising heat was starting to sit under her skin.

By that point, Kate had lost the ability to breathe but managed to whisper, "So are you going to kiss me or not?" The Rani then did just that, and it was strange, slow, and warm despite the Rani's cooler skin.

Upon breaking apart, Kate let her very human and hot-blooded instincts take charge, and she put a hand on either side of the Time Lady's face so that she could kiss her deeply and passionately, so much so that both of them were shocked. The Rani was mostly still, but her hands eventually came to rest on Kate's waist.

Eventually they broke apart, breathing very heavily - Kate especially. But the Rani seemed rather taken aback. Despite her calm demeanour, it was clear that she really wasn't used to such activities.

Kate offered the other woman a small, funny smile, only to find herself being yanked forward, turned, and pressed against her pantry door for a thorough snogging. As hands began to wander just a little, it became clear that what was happening wasn't showing any sign of slowing down. And that brought up a whole new line of mental panic. Kissing was one thing, but…

That was when Kate realised that in that moment, she was going to act on impulse for the first time in decades, do what she for some reason  _very_  much wanted to do, and deal with the repercussions in the morning.

"You know," she breathed against the Rani's lips, "I may have just thought of a solution to this bed issue."

The Rani laughed, a proper laugh that sunk into the skin of Kate's neck. "Lead the way, Lethbridge."

Kate hesitated for a moment before grabbing her hand and slowly pulling her in the direction of the bedroom. "You know, you can call me Kate."

"Alright then."

They got into the bedroom, and some of Kate's courage waned as she glanced around the room and her mind raced ahead to all the possible scenarios. She turned abruptly to the Rani. "You know, I don't usually do-" She was cut off by a swift and forceful kiss on the Rani's part, and the two of them fell back onto the soft double bed that dominated the room's space. As the new, inexplicable but consuming need filled her, she gave into the strangeness of what she was doing and decided to worry about it later.

The Rani's hands went to the buttons of Kate's blouse and began to undo them until the shirt could be thrown on the floor behind them. Meanwhile, Kate's hands were gaining the courage to reach under the bottom of the borrowed navy shirt the Rani was wearing. Her fingers and palms traced the skin around her lower back and stomach, only to find strange rough lines. When she partially pushed up the fabric, she saw scars there: brutal, painful looking scars embedded in the pale skin.

"When did you get these?" Kate asked, surprising herself with how worried she was.

"They're from the Time War," the Rani said, scowling down at them. 

Kate touched a scar gently. "Do they hurt?" 

"Not usually."

"But how can they be from the Time War? I thought the whole point of regeneration was to be renewed."

The Rani rolled her eyes, but not at Kate. "It is. But the Daleks are geniuses, they manufactured weapons that could give injuries so deep that they could not be healed by regeneration, at least not completely."

Wordlessly, slowly and deliberately, so that there was plenty of time for the Rani to stop her, Kate took the bottom of the navy shirt in her hands and pulled it over the Rani's head. Because she had been reluctant to lend the Rani any undergarments, the Time Lady's torso was bared to her.

The scars - about two inches line and ranging from one to four millimeters thick - also graced her arms and shoulders, as well as a few across her breasts and ribcage.

Kate's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my god."

For the first time, a seed of insecurity - or at least, uncertainty - lay in the Rani's grey eyes. "Are they horribly ugly?"

The blonde head tilted to the side, considering. "No, not exactly. It's just that I never really thought of you as a warrior."

"I'm not," the brunette said, gritting her teeth, "But the war called for desperate measures. Besides, you don't have to be a warrior to get injured."

"Are there many other Time Lords who look like this?"

"Quite a few, but I don't imagine you would find many who look worse than me."

"Why?"

The Rani shrugged. "I was a renegade who had been exiled. I was trouble. So they sent me on the most dangerous missions and into the most ferocious battles. The Doctor was the same, once he finally decided to join in, though he went of his own free will."

Kate almost wanted to reach out and touch her, given their current position and the depth of the conversation, but couldn't bring herself to do it. Despite them unexpectedly delving into physical intimacy, comforting touches branched more into emotional intimacy, which was certainly not something they had. Instead she settled for saying rather honestly, "It's hard to imagine anyone being able to hurt you."

"Oh really?"

"You seem so indomitable."

"I am," the Rani said, "But there are always limits. The Time War and the High Council's control was mine."

"Are you under their control now?"

"Of course not." Her lip curled with satisfaction, and her eyes were almost playful as she looked amused and thoughtful. "I wonder what they would say if they knew I was in bed with a human?"

Kate gave a small chuckle at the thought, before giving the Rani a more wry smile. "You know, we're technically not in the bed. And certain things would have to happen for that phrase to apply."

The Rani just stared at her for a second before her lips twitched. "I know. But that's easily rectified." She leaned down and captured Kate's lips with her own again, and ran her hands through soft blonde hair as Kate's began to map out the revealed skin of the Time Lady's torso.

"I haven't done this before...with a woman," Kate suddenly admitted (though realised, belatedly, that there had been many times she had wanted to but not consciously registered the desire for what it was).

The Rani shrugged. "That's alright, I haven't done this at all in several centuries. We'll work it out."

They didn't need any more words after that. 

The kiss that came next was slow but forceful and it had Kate clutching at the Time Lady everywhere she could reach. When the Rani's lips finally released hers, they immediately travelled down her neck and came to rest between her still covered breasts. That was when Kate lifted a leg to pull the other woman's hips against hers, even though they were still both wearing trousers. For the first time, Kate cursed trouser suits. 

The Rani smirked into her skin and let her hand travel down to undo the button and zipper of Kate's trousers. When her hand went even lower, Kate felt herself shudder, and pulled her down into a needy kiss that had the alien laughing against her mouth. 

* * *

When Kate woke, it was a drizzly morning outside. The rain pattered against the bedroom window with a comforting pitter patter. For a while she just watched the drops hitting the glass and racing down the pane, her bare body slowly stretching out under the cotton sheets.

Eventually she realised that there was an arm loosely draped slightly across her stomach.

Carefully, she turned to face the body it was attached to, and saw that the Rani was still asleep. For the first time, the alien woman actually looked relaxed and peaceful. Her auburn hair was free of its braid and spread around the pillow in braid-induced curls.

 _I don't know if it's strange or sort of endearing to see her sleeping_ , Kate considered,  _though finding anything about her endearing proves how odd the last 24 hours have been._

Within five minutes, the Rani began to stir, and her grey eyes opened. For a moment they just looked at each other, until the Rani finally spoke.

"Hello," she said, as if it had only just occurred to her to greet the person she was in bed with.

"Hello," Kate replied with a tiny smile. "You know, I wasn't even sure if you slept."

"Not as much as you, but I do require it occasionally," the Rani said, "I was almost a week overdue." The concept of being able to go over a week without sleeping, and god knew how much longer, was too much for Kate's already rather muddled brain for the current time of the morning. 

The blonde human lent back on her pillows and stared up at the ceiling. "If I am going to be completely honest, I'm still processing...this."

"Understandable. It wasn't exactly something I predicted either. I never thought that I would ever find myself in bed with a human."

"I never thought I would find myself in bed with a Time Lord." Kate bit her lip thoughtfully. "I wonder what my father would think about that. A female one too, who's experimented on humans and enslaved species."

"I think that he would be glad that at least it wasn't the Master," the Rani said, "Compared to him, I'm practically favourable." They both chuckled.

"Even so, it's quite entertaining to picture his face," Kate said vaguely, laughing to herself. "He always warned me about Time Lords. I don't think that this was quite what he had in mind."

There was a long silence. Eventually, Kate couldn't bear it any longer and had to ask the questions nagging at her.

"So what happens now?" Her voice came out rather unsure and tentative. "Was this just...something that happened and now we go on as we were?" A horrid thought occurred to her and she spun to look at the other woman. "This wasn't just to add to your investigation, was it?"

The Rani looked amused and shook her head. "No. Though I suppose it does in a way, in retrospect."

"So...what then? Was this a one time thing?" Only as she asked it did Kate realise just how much most of her hoped that the Time Lady answered in the negative.

"Did you want it to be?"

"I...I don't know. It's still too strange to even think about. You're this impossible thing that I don't think I'll ever understand. And I don't know if this helps or makes it worse." Kate ran a hand through her hair nervously.

"It doesn't all have to be decided or understood right now," the Rani said slowly, "You make it sound as though I know what I'm doing."

"You don't? There's...things to work out?" Kate asked. The thought made her a little relieved, but a more rational part of her was rather concerned at what she was getting into.

"Yes, I imagine so. But in the meantime, I think that there are better ways to spend a morning like this." The Rani's hand traced the curve of Kate's hip.

"You're learning," Kate joked, and leaned in and kissed her.

"Well, if you're going to do something bad, might as well do it more than once," the brunette said wryly as her other hand came up to rest at the top of Kate's neck. With only a small movement, she was on top and they laughed as the sheets proved to be rather tangled and difficult to displace.


	4. We're Not Done, Are We?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kate and the Rani try to work out how to proceed with their...'relationship', only to find that discussing it isn't so easy. 
> 
> Chapter title from 'Find A Way' by Safetysuit.

After a certain amount of lounging in bed, the Rani began to stir.

"I can't spend any more of the day doing nothing," she said as she got out of the bed and started getting dressed. Kate propped herself up on her elbow and watched as she pulled on the jeans with slight difficulty.

"Denim jeans too elusive for the great Gallifreyan mind?" Kate teased lightly.

"Shut up, Stewart," the Rani said with a roll of her eyes.

It was obvious that it was all lighthearted, but the use of her surname bothered Kate. "Is that how it's going to be now?"

"What?"

"I think we're a bit past surnames. Or, I thought we were. You can call me Kate."

"Kate..." It was plain that the Rani was testing the word on her tongue. She didn't seem so sure about the sound of it. "I hope you do realise my lack of ability in this area. Time Lords don't do...this."

"Sex? You said that you did, sometimes."

"Not sex. All of what typically comes with it for you humans." The brunette frowned and started to leave the room. "I need water."

"Your 48 hours aren't up, don't leave the apartment!" Kate called after her. Problem was, she wasn't sure if she was reminding her for professional or personal reasons anymore. With a sigh, she sank back into the pillows to briefly contemplate what the hell she'd managed to get herself into. Then she got up and dressed in fresh clothes - a dark trouser suit that felt like armour. Due to feeling vulnerable in other ways that all seemed to come back to the woman in her kitchen, it helped enough to give her the strength to leave the bedroom.

The Rani sat at the dining table with a large glass of water in her hands. Her hair was still free and messy, in a way that somehow reassured Kate that this was still the woman who had been in her bed just before. That hair was tangible, she could recall having her hands all through it…

The blonde fought the urge to blush like a teenager and quickly moved into the kitchen to make herself tea.

"I don't want you to expect too much of me, Stewart."

Kate didn't turn away from her teapot and just sighed slightly. "I probably should have seen this coming. I don't know why I thought that you might be different from other people. You being who you are only makes this all more likely."

"Your mumbled vagueries better get specific soon if you want something out of me," the Rani said with a practically audible scowl.

"Oh, I'm the one being vague now, am I?" Kate asked as she spun around and threw her hands into the air exasperatedly. " _I don't want you to expect too much of me._  You could have just said straight off the bat that it was just a one time thing, that it was a mistake."

"It wasn't a  _mistake_ ," The Rani said firmly, getting from her chair and crossing to the kitchen, "Stop putting words into my mouth."

"But it was just sex?"

The look on the Rani's face was unfathomable in everything except its obvious indecision. Eventually she managed to force out the word, "No." A few seconds later, her fist pounded on the kitchen counter and she stalked several paces backward from Kate. "I can't deal with your ridiculous human drama!" She seethed.

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm not just a shag you can quietly slip away from and sod off to another part of the universe!" Kate retorted, feeling hurt like that of the early days of their dealings, only ten times more painful because of how much more personal it had become.

"Oh for fuck's sake," the Rani muttered. "I don't have to deal with this." Still without shoes, she stormed towards the door.

"Fine then!" Kate shouted.

But before the Rani made it to the door, she stumbled. It was so uncharacteristic of the woman that Kate for a moment just stared. Then the Time Lady dropped to the floor.

"Rani?"

No answer.

Kate crept closer, bring her head around the kitchen counter to look at the woman sprawled awkwardly on the floor. "Rani?" She dashed to her side. "Rani, can you hear me?"

All she got in response was a groan. When the human pressed her hand against the Rani's cheek, she almost pulled it back because of the heat there. And the Gallifreyan's skin had always been significantly cooler than hers - which only made this change all the more alarming.

"Slitheen...chemical," the Rani murmured breathily.

"Oh shit," Kate said, eyes widening. "I have no idea what to do. And I can't take you into UNIT, they'll ask too many questions."

"TARDIS. Neutralising...chemical...solution."

"But it's in the lab. We'll get seen."

"Remote control. In my...jacket."

Kate dashed to the bathroom, where the Rani's old clothes still lay on the tiled floor. She rifled through the jacket and sure enough found a small device that had to be the remote. She ran back to the Rani and pressed the most prominent button the remote. Luck was on her side. The cupboard from the lab began to dematerialise in her living room.

"Come on," Kate muttered. "You're too big of a stuck up pain to be taken down by one little chemical." She hoisted the Rani's limp body up so that it mostly weighed down on her own. Pulling the still form with her to the TARDIS, Kate shoved the door open.

What lay inside made her accidentally drop the Rani onto the floor. She'd heard the words 'bigger on the inside' since she was in early childhood, but hearing something and seeing it were two incredibly different things. It was like stepping into another world - or had it been actually referenced as another dimension by someone, once?

The room was grey and silver, and circular just like the console in the centre. Several loops entwined atop the console, whirring like cogs in a machine. The controls on the console were dark red and blue. Several jars lined shelves along the walls, filled with what looked like embryos.

"Don't know what I expected," Kate said, more to herself than anything. She nudged the Rani - now on the floor - with her foot. "Where's the chemical?"

Weak hands swatted her foot away. "Lab. Corridor around...the corner. Two lefts...and a right."

Kate ducked down to properly hoist the Rani's arm around her shoulders and loop hers around her waist to keep her upright. Slowly, she made her way in the instructed direction. When they got to the lab, she sat the Rani down on the floor against a standing workbench.

"Where is it?"

A heavy hand pointed to a cabinet along the far wall. "Third from top. Fourth from left. Yellow phial."

It took her several seconds upon opening the cabinet to comprehend the sheer number of phials in front of her. But the instructions were specific and correct - though she expected no less from the Rani despite her current state - and she grabbed the phial and rushed back to open the top and hold it out to the Rani.

"Now what? Do you touch it or drink it?"

It was snatched from her hand and downed in a single gulp. The Rani began to splutter and she looked like she was about to throw the phial against the wall only to think better of it and just roll it away along the floor.

"I never wanted to actually need that damn thing," she growled.

"Is it an antidote?"

"No. It will balance my system long enough for me to make one. I'm a chemist, it's what I do." She slowly got to her feet and waved away Kate's helping hands. Wordlessly, she grabbed a swab and stuck it down her own throat. She then pulled it out and swabbed it on a petri dish from a stack on the bench.

"I don't suppose you'd be able to explain your process?" Kate asked delicately.

"While I'm trying to make a cure for the toxin trying to claim my body? Your timing is impeccable."

"Maybe now isn't the best time. But I really would be interested in learning more. Who better to teach me than the smartest person present on the planet?"

The Rani regarded Kate for several moments before she nodded once and began to explain - in what were undoubtedly still highly simplified terms - what she was doing. Kate was able to understand and nodded to show it.

Finally, after over ten minutes, the antidote was ready. With only a flicker of a glance at Kate first, the Rani tilted her head back swallowed the small quantity of liquid in three modulated gulps. Her entire body shook momentarily as if she had been electrocuted, and she slumped against the workbench, visibly tired.

Kate rushed to her side. "Did it work?"

"Yes."

Out of a quenching relief, Kate leaned in and kissed her fiercely. After a moment's stillness, the Rani kissed her back with equal - if not greater - fervour.

When they finally broke apart, Kate held the Rani's gaze - a gaze becoming more focused with every second thanks to the antidote. "Back at my apartment, you said no. Explain."

The Rani's face turned unreadable. "Yes, I did." She looked at Kate with grey eyes swimming with indecision. "But don't you see? Every part of me wanted to say yes. To just have you off my case and be done with it. It would be so much easier than this."

"Which is what?"

"Difficult. And increasingly complicated."

"You said that there were things to work out."

"But Time Lords don't work things out!" The Rani snapped. "We copulate and get on with it or get married and get on with being miserable."

Kate laughed at that - albeit somewhat worriedly. "That doesn't sound very pleasant."

The Time Lady just took in a deep breath and narrowed her eyes. "What do you want from me, Stewart?"

"I don't know," Kate admitted, "But I know that I don't want you to leave. And I know that I really do wish you'd call me Kate."

"...Kate...I think you're wanting something from me that I can't give."

"This is too early to even be a something," the blonde said softly but firmly, "I just want you to stay. You know...around."

"Well, I have to, don't I?" At the words, Kate looked at her questioningly. "We can say that we know the chemicals have no effects on humans, just Time Lords. You can say the Doctor popped in to visit you."

"That's quite a good idea, actually."

"Of course it is." The smugness in the Rani was actually strangely comforting for Kate - it was normal and expected, unlike the odd indecision that had been showing this morning.

"Of course we've still got about 30 hours to go before we can rule out humans being affected as well."

"And you still won't be letting me far out of your sight."

Kate smirked. "No. But I've got an idea for how to pass the time."

"Oh?" The Rani lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow.

"You can teach me chemistry, and biology. A lot can be learnt in 30 hours, and I think we'd both like it if I could keep up with you a bit better."

The Rani laughed. It was a barking and almost cruel laugh, but it was a laugh nonetheless. "Do you think you have the ability to learn anything even close to what I know?"

"Do you have the patience to teach it?" Kate challenged, and when the Rani faltered and glared, the blonde grinned triumphantly.

"Fine," the brunette said through gritted teeth.

And so the lessons began. They consisted of bursts of fast progress (the Rani's efficient knowledge and teaching) and almost regressive lulls (the Rani getting frustrated at over simplifying and Kate getting offended and them having to carefully neutralise each other before being able to continue).

After nearly five hours, Kate sank her head into the bench she was sitting at and loudly decreed no more.

"I need a break," she groaned, "A long, long break. Do you have tea?"

"Is that all you can think about?" The Rani sounded irritated, but when Kate looked up, she could have sworn that the alien looked relieved to be taking a break as well.

"Kitchen," Kate said flatly, holding her gaze, "Do you have one?"

"Of course I have one," came the snapped answer, "Just follow me." They walked together through the corridor and Kate couldn't keep a tired grin off her face. It didn't go unnoticed. "What?"

"I'm learning science."

"How astute of you."

"Advanced science."

"I'd hardly call it advanced."

"I think you like it."

The Rani rolled her eyes and continued on into the kitchen. "Just make your tea."

Kate just smirked and did exactly that. While she let it steep, the Rani made her own beverage which gave off an incredibly odd smell. "What's that you've got there?"

"Something Time Lords enjoy when they need energy. An equivalent to coffee, you could say."

"Can I try it?"

"It's poisonous to humans."

 _The sad thing is that I don't find that even mildly surprising_ , Kate thought to herself. "Just remind me not to kiss you any time soon, then."

"You'd only feel an effect if you drank half the cup, and only be dead if you drank the whole cup. I can assure you that my lips aren't hazardous to you."

Kate laughed. "Well, that's potentially up to debate, depending on one's definition of hazardous."

"If I didn't know better, I think you were trying to seduce me," the Rani said as she sipped her poisonous drink, before adding - almost like an afterthought, "Kate."

"Here? In your own TARDIS?" Kate pretended to be shocked. "I'm British, I do have manners. Only...hang on...you did seduce me in  _my_ own home, so I suppose if I were trying to seduce you, then it would all be evened out, wouldn't it?"

"I think it's safe to say that last night was a combined effort." The Rani yet again rolled her eyes.

"God, if someone had told me after we first met that I'd end up in the kitchen of your TARDIS casually discussing who seduced who, I'd have thought them madder than five Doctors all in one room," the blonde said thoughtfully, drinking a large gulp of her tea. "It's official. I'm mad. I've gone mad, the world's gone mad. And I can't decide if it's terrifyingly alright or just plain terrifying." The Rani just lifted an eyebrow and continued to sip her drink while looking rather amused by Kate's monologuing. "I mean...I've slept with a Time Lord. I'm in her TARDIS, drinking tea while she drinks poison,  _discussing_ just how ridiculous the situation is."

"Actually, for it to be a discussion I think I would need to be contributing to what is in fact a complete monologue at the moment, Kate."

"Your logic is less than helpful, Rani, I'm not in a particularly logical mood," Kate said with a frown as she stared at the wall. "Maybe we should get back to complex ionic bonding. Even that's less confusing than this."

So they went back to lessons for another couple of hours, until again Kate declared her need for a break.

"Early night, I think," she said to the Rani as they exited the TARDIS and emerged back into her living room, "It's been a pressing and almost lethal sort of day. Besides, anything to pass the time until these hours are up."

"I thought you wanted me to stay?"

Kate turned around to face her, surprise plain on her face. "I do. But it's restricting, this quarantine. I like being able to go places. Just because I want these hours up, doesn't mean I want you to leave. Whether it's a good thing or not, you're the most interesting thing that's happened to me in a long time, and my job is defending the planet from hostile aliens."

"But you want to sleep again?"

"Yes. For us humans it  _is_  a nightly occurrence."

The Rani looked from Kate, to Kate's bedroom door, to her TARDIS. "What about me?"

"Well, I know you won't want to sleep again, so you can do what you want in here or in there, really," Kate said reasonably. But then her voice shifted and she took a step forward. "But I was hoping you'd want to stay with me. For a while, at least."

"Just because you're there, doesn't mean sleep is any more-"

At that moment, Kate's hand cupped the back of the Rani's head and pulled her in for a quick, soft, almost tender kiss. "You're not under any sort of obligation. But for the record, sleep isn't exactly what I had in mind. At least not at first."

The corner of the Rani's mouth twitched. "You know, both of us could really use a shower. To further get rid of any remnants of that chemical."

A small smile crept onto Kate's face. "You know, that's a very good point."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hopefully you guys are still enjoying it! 
> 
> The next chapter will have not only the Doctor and Clara, but Kate's son Gordon. Both groups will stumble upon the Kate/Rani relationship in...interesting ways. XD


	5. They Don't Understand You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kate's son Gordon, the Doctor and Clara all find out about Kate and the Rani in...less than ideal ways.

Kate woke up to the sound of surprised yelling coming from the kitchen. She got dressed more quickly than she could ever recall doing before, and ran out into the kitchen only to let out a shocked exclamation of her own.

The Rani, clothed in a small robe from Kate's own wardrobe, was holding a book in her hand and talking to none other than Kate's son, Gordon, whose arms were laden with grocery bags.

"Gordon?!" Kate asked, gaping.

He turned to look at her, seeming quite relieved. "Mum. I was just-"

"Enquiring about my identity," the Rani added.

"This is Rani," Kate said quickly, "She-"

"Was just getting another book," the Time Lady explained, "I was coming back."

The blonde resisted the urge to melt into the floor. She looked at her son and tried to figure out what on earth she was going to say. His brown eyes - so similar to hers - were full of embarrassment. It was clear that he had an idea of what he had interrupted, even if he didn't quite understand.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him. He smiled sheepishly.

"I had my key. I was going to make dinner and surprise you. You're usually at work, so-"

"We're under quarantine," she said quickly, "That's why the Rani's here. She's a scientist from work. She couldn't go home but we had to isolate everyone for 48 hours, so I said that she could stay here."

"Quarantine?"

"Don't worry, you're probably fine," the Rani told him, "No effects on humans yet."

"Rani, could you just...get dressed?" Kate asked quietly, shutting her eyes and trying not to convey her mortification. The brunette shrugged and went into the bedroom to do just that. The moment she was gone, Kate sighed heavily and sat down on a dining chair. "I know what it looks like-"

"Are you going to try and tell me it's not?" Gordon was obviously amused despite everything. He sat down at the dining table opposite her. "We're both adults here, Mum. It's okay. Just not what I was expecting from my workaholic mother."

"I wasn't lying, you know, she is here because of work."

"Maybe. But she said she was 'coming back', and she went into your bedroom to get dressed."

Kate groaned and brought her hand to her face. "God. What did she say when you came in?"

"She said, 'oh, you must be Gordon'. And then she asked if I made a habit of visiting my mother's home when she wasn't expecting me."

It was awful but Kate couldn't help but laugh, albeit with horror. "Oh...she is too clever for her own good. Mind you, I suppose it's not difficult to see the resemblance." It was true. In addition to having her eyes, Gordon also had her wispy blonde hair and her mouth. But he didn't have her nose - it was entirely his father's.

"She's...a character, for sure. Also, why do you have a cupboard in the middle of your living room?"

"Um...no reason," Kate said quickly, knowing how ridiculous she sounded.

"Also...why did you call her  _the_ Rani, before?"

"It's complicated. Sort of an inside joke." They lapsed into silence and Gordon studied his mother carefully while she just continued to try and hide how mortified she was by the whole thing.

"So, how long has this been going on, then?" He finally asked. "You always said that with your job, you never had time for…"

"For what?" Kate couldn't help how tired her voice sounded. "A relationship? I have no idea what this even is, Gordon. Please don't try and understand it because I don't yet. She's..."

"A woman?" It was easy to tell that he was teasing because of the gleam in his eye.

She chuckled reluctantly. The whole situation was so ridiculous that it felt good to finally be acknowledging it with someone who meant the world to her. "She's difficult."

That was when the Rani reentered the room, wearing new clothes that were again from Kate's wardrobe. The only other pair of jeans that Kate owned, as well as one of her white blouses. It looked a little out of place on her, but the Rani could have been wearing a sack of potatoes or a ballgown and she wouldn't have worn them any differently.

Gordon had apparently picked up on the true owner of the clothes, because he lifted an eyebrow at his mother and didn't bother to hide his smirk.

The Rani joined them at the table. "Well, as first meetings go, that was certainly interesting."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Kate muttered.

"It could have been worse," the other woman told her logically, "He could have been the Doctor."

Kate went pale. "Oh god. No. Please let's not go there." Gordon just grinned, still not ashamed of how much he was enjoying the entire situation. "Gordon, I am your mother, you should find this a lot more disturbing."

He just shook his head. "I'm twenty four, Mum. I'm old enough to be able to see the funny side of this."

The Rani lifted an eyebrow at him. "You're not quite what I expected."

"Well, I didn't expect you at all, so I guess we're even." The two of them chuckled while Kate just dropped her head onto the table and wondered when her life had turned insane.

"So do you have anything to do with the cupboard in the middle of the living room?" Gordon asked the Rani, who just smirked and refused to give him a straight answer.

* * *

After nearly twenty minutes that Kate could have definitely have done without in her life, Gordon left with plans to come back later that night for dinner. The moment the door shut, Kate breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think I can confidently say...that was the most awkward thing to ever happen to me," she said to the Rani as she sank into the couch. "He does these spontaneous dinners about twice a year. His timing is commendable for sure."

"Embarrassed for him to meet the alien woman you've had in your bed for the last 24 hours?"

"You haven't been in there the whole 24 hours," Kate said, turning red, only to almost laugh, "And it was the shower too." The Rani snorted ungraciously just as Kate buried her hands in her hands. "Oh god, what's wrong with me?"

"You're just being honest with yourself, finally," came the reply of the woman who had come to sit down next to her. "You didn't say anything that wasn't true."

"But it's not  _me_ ," Kate said earnestly, "I'm the Head of Scientific Research at UNIT. My job is to manage how we defend this country and world from alien threats. And I'm sleeping with one."

"I'm not a  _threat_ ," the Rani said, her lip curling as distaste soaked her words, "I could be, but I'm not. And I have no immediate plans to change that."

"Good, because you turning around and deciding to experiment on us all would probably be the last straw in my downward spiral of insanity." Kate rubbed her temples. "Don't get me wrong, I don't actually think I'd change any of the last 24 hours, aside from Gordon, but that doesn't mean it isn't insane."

"Sometimes what seem to be the maddest things end up being the most beneficial."

"I don't need you getting philosophical on me, Rani."

"I was merely sharing some insight." The Rani got up. "Well, since you were clear enough that I was going to be gone by the time Gordon came back, but I can't actually leave in case you start frothing at the mouth and need my help, I'll be in my lab."

"Oh. Right. Did you want company, or…?"

The Rani shook her head. "I need some intensive experiment time to myself. I've been deprived of it for about 40 hours as it is because you wanted me to stay in bed with you - which for the record, don't you be expecting me to do that. If I want to, I will, but most likely I won't, alright?"

Kate frowned, but didn't let her disappointment show. She tried not to let the smidge of rejection affect her, because she knew it wasn't  _her_ , it was just how she was and how she would always be. The Rani wasn't domestic, she was an alien time-travelling scientist, and pretending otherwise would never work out.

"Alright," she said quietly. "I have paperwork that I need to do anyway."

"You'd better not sulk, it's unattractive."

Kate waved her hand impatiently. "Just go and play science. I'm going to call into London HQ, see if we've had any reported effects yet."

So the Time Lady went into her TARDIS and the human went to her phone. A quick call to HQ confirmed no effects reported on any of the workers who had gone into their self-quarantine. Another call was necessary, though, and this time to Osgood.

" _Kate!"_ The girl's cheery voice exclaimed.  _"It's really good to hear from you, I was starting to get worried. I mean, not really, you'd have reported in if something had been wrong, but 40 hours is a long time when you're usually here 24/7...not that you don't have a life because I'm sure you totally do, it's just-"_

"Osgood, inhaler," Kate said, wanting to laugh. She hadn't realised until that moment, but she'd really missed the girl's bubbly personality and awkwardness. It was so different to dealing with the Rani that even just hearing her voice on the phone was relaxing and refreshing. "It's fine. I'm fine, you're fine. How's things there?"

" _All fine here too. But I think the Doctor might have tried to contact you, is all."_

"Is all? The Doctor is somewhat a significant person to be trying to contact me. What happened?"

" _Well, it could have been an error. But that space-time telegraph, it had a long blip, and then it went quiet. I don't really know what to make of it. Sorry."_

"Just let me know if there's any more activity, otherwise we won't worry about it until this quarantine period is over. You keep handling things there, it sounds like you're doing a good job."

" _Alright, I will. Thanks!"_

She hung up and Kate fetched the stack of paperwork from her bedroom and brought it to the dining table. For two hours she merely sat there and worked through it. When she felt a pair of cool hands on her shoulders, she jumped near out of her seat.

The Rani smirked. "Goodness you humans can be unobservant. It's almost impressive, in a backward sort of way."

"I was completely focussed on my work."

"I can tell, you've got enough tension in your shoulders to make even someone like you or the Doctor mildly dangerous." Her hands spread out across the backs of Kate's shoulders. "I could try and help with that, if you like. I know enough about the human body to know where massaging is most effective."

Kate momentarily blanked, and was glad the Rani couldn't see her face. "Er, that's not necessary, Rani, I'd never ask you to-"

"You didn't. I offered. And if I didn't want to, then I wouldn't have."

 _Well, that's a very good point. She'd hardly offer out of a sense of obligation,_ Kate considered. "Alright then. I'll be honest, that sounds rather welcome."

With the verbal confirmation, the Rani's hands slid under the back of her shirt to press into the skin that lay there. As claimed, they knew exactly where to go and where to apply the pressure. An involuntary and utterly embarrassing noise that was half a sigh and half a moan escaped Kate's lips.

The Rani chuckled. "Very welcome, apparently."

"I love my job, I do, but...the pressure is immense," Kate admitted, "I've never admitted it so plainly to anyone. But-"

"Who am I going to tell?"

"Well, exactly," the blonde agreed, her lips twitching. "In a way, you're sort of...easier to be around of others. When you're not trying to teach me advanced scientific theories, you don't expect anything from me."

"If you get under this sort of stress, why not get regular massages from a professional?"

Kate thought about it, trying to work out how put her reservations into words. "It always seemed strange to pay for a stranger to put their hands on me."

"But naturally an alien with a questionable past is absolutely fine, and free of charge," the Rani said wryly, making Kate laugh.

"As long as I don't tell my Doctor, I think it will be fine," She joked.

"That would be a conversation worth hearing." The Rani chuckled as they both imagined the scenario in their heads, "No doubt he'd turn an impressive shade of red and attempt to scold you. Then he'd ask me my intentions."

"And what are your intentions?" Kate asked lightly, enjoying the lightness of the conversation and the ease with which it was coming.

The alien woman's lips were suddenly next to her ear. "Partial education, mild irritation and continuous seduction." With that, the ease of the conversation disappeared and Kate found herself swallowing slowly.

"Well, the last part can be our little secret," she said.

The Rani's fingertips brushed across the skin of her shoulders with a new and sensual intent. "Is that what I am, Kate? Your dirty little secret?"

Kate turned her head to look up at her. "Is that a problem?"

The Rani's mouth - which was again painted crimson - turned upward in a smile. "No. Are you done with the paperwork?"

"Oh god yes," Kate breathed, getting out of her chair and immediately pulling the Rani in for a long, hungry kiss. Then the Rani smirked at her and they exchanged several more lingering kisses before starting to undress each other and heading towards the bedroom.

* * *

A dinner with Gordon, a chemical contamination report and a fortnight later, Kate Stewart and the Rani had found a sort of routine. Kate would go to work and the Rani would go in some days to work as 'Doctor Rani Frey'. They would sometimes meet for lunch but more often than not leave each other to it and just share a few secret glances and smiles if they passed each other in the hallways or in meetings.

But the Rani had taken to parking her TARDIS outside Kate's apartment, after the human woman had insisted that she didn't want the cupboard taking up space that she didn't have.

One late afternoon after a particularly hectic day where some experimental alien adaptive tech had done very wrong, Kate and the Rani entered the latter's TARDIS instead of the former's apartment.

"Now no one knows where to find me," Kate said with a sigh of relief as they came into the console room, "I'm not risking a midnight call for some national crisis. All I want to do is sleep."

"After today, I can't say that I blame you. I'll actually join you, I think."

"Can I have a tour first? The other time I only really got to see one of your labs and that kitchen."

So the two of them went through the plain grey corridors of the TARDIS, past more labs and sample rooms than Kate could keep count of, half a dozen more kitchens, and four bathrooms with showers that Kate had unabashedly looked at longingly.

Finally they stopped outside a plain wooden door. 

"What's this?"

"End of the line, for now." The Rani pushed the door open to reveal a dimly lit, windowless bedroom that was small and cosy. It looked incredibly inviting, particularly the queen sized bed dominating the space of the room. "Will it work?"

"No complaints from me," Kate said, eyeing it with approval and wanting to breathe out a sigh of relief just from looking at the bed.

The Rani smirked. "Of course, there's only one way to be entirely sure."

Kate grinned and pulled her by the shirt towards the bed.

* * *

Clara Oswald was not, to put it very simply, having a good morning. After the Doctor had lost his bowtie in a duel on Metabelius II, he had insisted on dragging her around an endless parade of London's shops in search of another one. It was raining, they were soaked, and still no bowtie had met his criteria.

She was just about ready to scream at him with utter frustration when he came to a complete halt in the middle of the footpath.

"Something's off," he said, "Something doesn't smell right." He sniffed dramatically and did a 180 degree spin on his heel before walking off back in the direction that they had come. Ten metres back stood a red telephone box that bore a 'out of order' sign taped to the inside of the door.

"Doctor, I'm wet and cold and I want to go home," she complained, shivering in her jacket and curling up her toes in her boots. He ignored her and instead licked the telephone box. The look on his face was almost comical in how it changed so quickly to show his blatant shock. " _Why_ are you licking a broken telephone box?"

"Because it's not a telephone box," he said slowly, with the strangest expression on his face, "It's a TARDIS."

Clara blinked. "What, like yours?"

"Yeah, only not mine."

"But that's not possible...is it?"

He swallowed and shrugged helplessly. "If I did save Gallifrey, then it's a bit more possible than it was before. But still extremely impossible. And what's it doing here?" He tried the door of the box and it wouldn't budge. So he took the sonic to it and immediately it swung open. "Well, whoever it belongs to needs to upgrade their security. Come on, Clara. Let's find them and ask them how the hell they managed this." Reluctantly, she followed him inside and he shut the door behind her. They stood in the telephone box and Clara looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"This is feeling an awful lot like a real telephone box," she said.

He just gave her a smug look and pushed on the wall with the phone. It gave way into a console room of grey and pearly silver, round with a console dominating the space. A wall of jars containing god knew what was to their left. Silver loops were entwined atop the console, quite different from the column of the Doctor's own.

"Wow, it's so different, but you can tell it's the same sort of thing," Clara said, wide-eyed and grinning.

"I know this TARDIS," the Doctor murmured from beside her, "I'd know this TARDIS anywhere, and this is not in any sort of measure good."

"Why not? Whose is it?"

"The Rani," He answered, "Brilliant biochemist. Was exiled from Gallifrey back in the day, but called back for the war. Some of her chemical inventions won us massive victories. I stood back to back with her, trying to save an innocent planet from destruction. Her, me and the Corsair." His eyes had gone far away, the kind of far away that made Clara wonder if she'd ever reach him. But then he was back. "But her morals are twisted, Clara. She sees human beings like cattle for her to experiment on. Lower species aren't important to her. Once I had to stop her from extracting a chemical from the brain that promotes sleep in people. The men she experimented on were rioting in the streets because of it, but she'd chosen a time of rioting to cover her tracks."

"Blimey." Clara bit her lip. "Not the one you'd hope to make it out, then."

"It could be worse," he admitted, "It really depends on what she's doing here. The war might have changed her outlook on things." He pressed a few buttons on the console before nodding. "The ship confirms that there are two Time Lords on board, which means she's here. Let's go find her and have a chat. One thing you have to give her credit for is that she doesn't usually try and kill me."

"Always a plus."

The two of them set off along the stark corridors only for the Doctor to stop. "I can sense her. Not sure why I couldn't before, but it's there." An odd smile graced his features, strangely innocent and like that of a child. "My head's not quite empty. It's been...so long."

Clara looked at him. "So, if she's not wanting to experiment on people, then this might be a good thing?"

He frowned, coming to his senses. "Let's not go that far. She's still dangerous and far too clever." He shut his eyes and concentrated for a moment. "I think she's this way." He set off around the corner and the brunette girl hurried after him. After a few more minutes, he came to stop outside a wooden door. "In here. I think I know why I couldn't sense her...I think she might be asleep, it would explain why her mind is so quiet." He paused and smiled slightly, with a sort of self amusement. "The Rani sleeping. Some things are just weird, you know?"

He pushed the door open and he and Clara went inside what was sure enough a bedroom. It was a decent size but cozy. The bed against the wall was in slight chaos, with the covers tangled so that they couldn't see the bed's occupant. The Doctor and Clara didn't go any closer.

"Rani! Wake up, we need to talk," The former said loudly. From under/behind the covers a groan could be heard, and a head emerged. An auburn-haired woman in a state of sleepy disarray stared at them with piercing grey eyes for a moment before her face twisted into a glare.

"Doctor!" She hissed. "What in the name of sanity are you doing in here?!"

But before he could answer, another head popped up from under the covers, a blonde one which Clara realised with a jolt she recognised. Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.

"What's going on?" The UNIT official asked the other woman, still not quite awake, and Clara realised that neither of them were wearing anything underneath the bed covers. Next to her, it seemed the Doctor had come to the same conclusion. He covered his eyes even though both women were suitably covered, and half-yelped Kate's name.

"Kate?!"

"Doctor?!"

"Kate…"

"Clara…"

"Doctor!"

"Rani!"

By the time it was out of their systems, Clara was more embarrassed than she could ever recall being in her life, the two Time Lords were glaring at each other, and a mortified Kate had simply let her face fall into the bed covers in front of her and didn't seem to have any intention of showing it again for another decade or so.

The Doctor, who was flustered and pink with anger, just said, in a carefully modulated tone, "Clara and I are going to make some tea in the nearest kitchen. Get some clothes on and join us ASAP." When the Rani cocked a challenging eyebrow at him, he added, "Please."

Then he and Clara hurried from the room.

* * *

"Please tell me that I'm dreaming, please tell me that that didn't just happen."

The Rani didn't answer Kate's question, she instead moved from the bed and started to dress. Kate slowly looked up from the bed covers.

"This is so much worse than Gordon," she groaned, running a hand through her short hair.

"I knew I should have upgraded the security," the Rani cursed. "That damn screwdriver of his...oh get up, Stewart, be brave and face up to this." Kate just glared until the Rani amended, "Kate."

With that, the blonde also began to get dressed in yesterday's clothes. She moved to the full length mirror and tried to tame her bed hair. When she turned around, the Rani stood dressed and mostly groomed, her hair back in her long, tight braid. A few stray strands had escaped it, and Kate had to fight the very domestic urge to put them in their rightful place. But the thought of how the Rani might react to Kate trying to groom her helped considerably.

"Well, time to face the music, I suppose," she murmured, and deliberately composed her face in the same way she did when having to deal with hostile aliens or haughty UNIT officials from Geneva.

The two women left the bedroom and walked down to the kitchen at the end of the corridor. It was more cheerful and less generic than Kate had expected, in comparison to the rest of the Rani's TARDIS.

They lingered in the doorway, and Clara met Kate's eyes from the bar stool she was sitting on. She gave her a funny smile which conveyed some sympathy but also confusion and reservation. That was when the Rani suddenly turned to Kate, held her cheek firmly, and kissed her. The human quickly realised that it was strategic rather than affectionate, deliberate in front of the Doctor to make a point. Then the Time Lady released her and moved to stand against the kitchen wall, away from anyone else in the room.

Kate, managing to keep her face composed, approached the other bar stool by Clara and sat down next to the girl. The Doctor, who was leaning against the kitchen cupboards, continued to watch them silently, a frown stuck to his face.

Finally, he spoke. "So, I don't think I would be out of line to ask what the hell is going on."

"No, compared to breaking and entering, it's really quite tame of you," the Rani retorted. "Or waking me from a much needed sleep. You never did have any manners when it came to letting me get on with what I was doing."

"Besides," Kate said, having gained enough courage to speak, "It's perfectly clear what's going on, I highly doubt you require us to explain it to you." Next to her, Clara looked like she was hiding a grin, probably because she knew the situation really wasn't supposed to be funny.

"Kate, I don't know how this happened, but I can't condone this," the Doctor said.

Kate lifted an eyebrow. "I'm sorry if you're under the impression that your status gives you the right to interfere in my life but that is not the case. I'm in no way under your authority, except occasionally in matters of the safety of the Earth."

"But - but -  _Kate_!" He protested, starting to flap his hands about. "You don't know her, she's not a good person. If you knew the things she's done-"

"You mean like human experimentation resulting in aggression and riots?" Kate asked mildly. That made him pause, so she tried again. "Or causing you to regenerate? Or a couple of instances of murder?"

"You  _know_?"

"From the moment we met, she never bothered to hide it."

The Rani smirked. "I wasn't ashamed of it, so why would I?"

"Still, though, Head of Scientific Research at UNIT and a morally ambiguous alien…" Clara said, eyeing them both, "There's got to be a story there."

"My TARDIS malfunctioned. I kept running into her, and she worked out immediately what I was. She was the only interesting person in the entire city," the Rani explained.

"I invited her to lunch, and she decided to perform a sort of investigation," Kate added, reaching for one of the prepared cups of tea, "To see if by investigating a single human, she could see what it is that you see in humanity, Doctor."

He looked to the Rani with quiet interest. "Three guesses who the human was. Am I right?"

"I would never have predicted it and still can't fully explain it, but...some things just happen, Doctor," Kate told him, and he nodded slightly, still looking troubled.

"Kate...can I speak to you alone, please?"

The Rani rolled your eyes. "Or rather, without me. Do what you like. I'm going to my lab. I don't enjoy your company anyway." She left the room, leaving the atmosphere even more thick than when she had been there.

"She's...interesting," Clara said, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"That would be the right word for it," Kate muttered into her tea, making Clara smile with that same sympathy and amusement.

"Complicated relationship?"

"What do you think?" Kate asked ironically. "I'm not even sure I could call it a relationship. I don't know what it is, it just... _is_."

The Doctor approached the counter they were sitting at and planted his hands on it. "Kate, she's dangerous. Even if she's been honest about some of her past, you can't trust her. What's stopping her experimenting on London? Or are you alright with that now? Has she twisted your brain completely?"

"Of course not," Kate snapped, "What's stopping her is that she promised me that she wouldn't. That's good enough for me."

"You can't stop an amoral scientist from doing her work by making her promise."

"Maybe  _you_ can't."

"Kate, you don't know her."

Kate stared evenly at him. "I know her well enough. She's...like a cat." The Doctor and Clara both looked at her as if she'd gone insane. "She's beautiful and brilliant and you get strangely attached to her even when you know that there's a good chance she doesn't care about you very much. You can't make her stay when she doesn't want to. She needs time to be herself and do her own things. It's about understanding enough to wait for her to come back, because there's a good chance will." Then she began to sip at her tea again. "And if you think she's going to stay away from me just because you say so then you really aren't as clever as I thought."

Clara smiled at her before looking at the Doctor. "Doctor, is it possible that you're wrong about this Rani woman? Kate seems to have it all worked out."

He stared at his companion. "Clara! I think I would know more-"

"Yes, but you can't be perfect at everything," Kate said rather wickedly, smirking at him. He gaped.

"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, if your father could see you now-"

"Don't bring my father into this," she said with cold firmness, "My dealings with the Rani started in an attempt to make her an ally of this country and this world. He'd be proud of me for that."

"And for falling into bed with her?" He asked sarcastically. "Would he be proud of that too?"

"He always trusted my judgement," Kate retorted, "Can you say the same? On either account?"

The Doctor just glared, while she stared defiantly back at him. Eventually, Clara just groaned.

"Oh my god, stop it, the pair of you!" She told them both, looking between them incredulously. "Look at yourselves. You two had the utmost respect for each other, you were on great terms, and now you're falling out over who Kate wants to snog?"

"Clara, with respect," he tried to say, "I don't think you-"

"You said yourself that the war might have changed the Rani, yeah? Besides, she'd be a different regeneration from the ones you knew, and I know that means her personality is a bit different too."

"But-"

"And do you really think so little of Kate that you don't think she would have been sure about the Rani's intentions before getting close to her at all?"

The Doctor pressed his mouth shut, while Kate looked to Clara with relief and gratitude. "Thank you, Clara," she said, smiling at the girl, who just nodded and smiled back.

"That's what I'm here for. I'm the boss."

"Really?" Kate asked, laughing. "That must be nice. I try to be, but the Rani doesn't like to be told what to do."

Clara made a face. "No, I can imagine."

Meanwhile, the Doctor slipped out of the room and headed off in the direction of the lab.

* * *

The Doctor thought that he had seen it all, but Kate Stewart in bed with the Rani would probably have to take the cake as officially the strangest thing to ever happen in the history of the universe. Could it be true? Was the Rani trying to turn over a new leaf? Or was the Rani simply postponing her experiments until her interactions with Kate were over?

He strode down the corridor, seeking the lab where the Rani had said she was going to be. When he finally got there, the Rani was mixing chemicals and facing away from him, but he knew that she knew he was there.

"So, have you turned her against me yet?" She asked him, surprisingly calm.

"Couldn't even if I wanted to," he said honestly, "Also, Clara took her side."

When she turned around, he thought he saw a tiny smile playing on her lips. "Interesting."

"Her father was one of my best friends," the Doctor said seriously, coming in to the room properly, "I feel responsible for her, in a way. She trusts you. Don't throw that back in her face."

"I have no intentions to."

Their eyes met, and the Doctor searched her grey ones for signs of lying, but found nothing. Just smugness. "I really hope that you're not playing some sort of game."

"As if this is my style of trickery," the Rani scoffed, "I'm just as surprised at this turn of events as you are, Doctor."

"What is this turn of events, though? What exactly is going on between the two of you?"

"Nothing that's any of your business."

There was a long silence before the Doctor was suddenly hit again by the fact that there was another Time Lord, alive, and standing in front of him. Almost all thought of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart vanished.

"Rani...how did you get here?"

"After you managed to save Gallifrey, I found a way back into this universe."

"How?"

"There was a crack. I've no idea where it came from but it was just big enough to get the ships through. But there's a chance the Chancellor might have seen me, so I'll warn you now that they might try something."

"So I really did it? Gallifrey's really saved?"

"Yes." The Rani glanced at him, eyes deliberating. "I suppose I should thank you, as my life comes under that."

"Are you going to?"

Her mouth twitched. "No, I don't think so."

He sighed. "No, I didn't think so either." Somehow it seemed easier to talk to her now, when he wasn't interrupting one of her schemes. It was almost like talking to his friend from the Academy, to Ushas. "Rani...how are you? I mean, the war, after it I-"

"I survived, what else matters?" She asked irritably, but a slight falter in her voice betrayed her. He took a step closer.

"A lot. The Time War devastated all of us, anything you're feeling is completely justified."

"I'm not feeling anything!" She shouted, pushing him away and glaring. "Don't try and make this some sappy confession. I am not Romanadvoratrelundar."

The name struck him completely still and made his hearts ache. "I...I know."

"Do you? Trying to get me to open up, just because we're the only two around?" She mocked him. "I'm still the Rani, you blundering idiot. If you want someone to pour out their hearts and have your arms around them until it's all better, I suggest you go and find Gallifrey and get your little Lady President back."

All the Doctor could do was stare. "I-why do you have to be like this?"

"Because I don't  _like_ you, you imbecile, and I want you gone."

He rolled his eyes. "And I want you away from Kate, but it doesn't look like we can all get what we want."

"Out of my TARDIS. Now. I may not harm Kate but I could poison the entirety of UNIT staff if I were in the mood, and your presence is sending me in the right direction," the Rani snarled. He just shook his head from side to side, eyes frustrated and melancholic at the same time.

"Fine," he said, rather bitterly, " _Fine_. Reject the only person who could understand you properly. See if I care."

She just narrowed her eyes. "No one could understand me properly, but if someone could, it wouldn't be you. Now get out of my TARDIS and take your human with you."

The Doctor strode to the doorway, but turned back to her. "If you harm one hair on her head-"

"Kate doesn't need you protecting her, and if you saw her for herself and not just your friend's daughter, you might realise it."

He frowned, opened his mouth, then shut it and headed off down the corridor. All he could do was hope that Kate truly could hold her own. With the Rani at her side, she would need to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a lot of fun to write, so I really hope that you guys enjoyed it too. :) Comments and kudos are much appreciated!


	6. Pros and Cons of Personal Assistants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Osgood finds out and makes some inquiries that cause a bit of tension.

Osgood cheerfully hummed the tune to a Mumford and Sons song as she walked down the corridor of the Scientific Research Centre of UNIT. A flash out of the corner of her eye had her stopping outside the open door to the lab recently allocated to Doctor Rani Frey. A closer look inside had the girl recognising the blonde head of her superior, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, and the auburn braid of Doctor Frey herself. The more surprising part was the unexpected proximity.

The two older women seemed to be talking, which in itself wasn't unusual. What  _was_ unusual was the casual tone of the talking. The usually well-disposed but polished Kate had a cheeky twinkle in her eyes while her hands fiddled with a beaker only to have it snatched by the other woman. And Doctor Frey, known around the compound for being the somewhat mysterious and silent biochemist who walked around eyeing everyone else as if they were ants not worthy of her attention, was...smiling. Well, not  _quite_  smiling, but smirking without contempt in her eyes, which was close enough.

It was hard to guess at what they were talking about, but it looked like teasing of some kind.

Osgood had to smile. Being Kate's personal assistant, she knew just how much of herself Kate put into her work and into keeping the country and the planet safe. Kate didn't really have much of a circle of friends, or at least not a close one with friends she spent time with regularly.

Doctor Rani Frey was an interesting choice for a new friend, but it was nice to see.

As Doctor Frey turned around to face her complex arrangement of beakers and tubes full of bubbling solutions, Kate simply stood a small way behind her, peering over her shoulder curiously. Her free hand played absently with the bottom of the brunette's braid. Osgood had been about to stop looking in and keep walking, but there was something about the gesture. Something a little more intimate.

Osgood continued to watch as Doctor Frey shrugged Kate off and complained loudly about the blonde getting in her space. While anyone else might have recoiled, Kate seemed to scoff at the complaint. Whatever her retort had been, Doctor Frey seemed amused by it, enough so that she turned around.

But then her hand hooked into Kate's shirt and pulled her into a not entirely chaste kiss. Osgood felt her mouth drop open and her eyes pop out, but after the initial shock passed, the girl had to clasp her hand over her lips to keep the grin off her face. Kate's hands immediately wound around Doctor Frey's waist, just a second before the two women pulled away from each other. The hands lingered for a few moments longer.

That, however, was when Doctor's Frey's eyes flicked to the doorway and noticed the bystander. Her eyes narrowed, and Kate turned her head. When she spotted Osgood, her cheeks immediately flamed up in a way that would be comical if the frightening woman next to her hadn't looked so annoyed.

Osgood rushed off down the corridor before either one of them could catch her. After all, it was really none of her business. Once she was back in her own little lab, she allowed herself to relax and grin again about the little secret she now knew about.

* * *

 

"Osgood, could I have a word?"

Osgood had to try and fight down the grin that immediately sprung to her face. She'd been expecting the conversation the entire day. The brunette girl gave her tea a final stir before turning around and smiling innocently at her superior.

"Course," she said cheerfully to Kate, who was wearing the expression of a nervous child who knew they were caught drawing on the walls with crayon.

"Look, about this morning-"

"Yeah, sorry, didn't mean to pry," Osgood said, grinning a little, "Let me guess, you didn't realise you'd left the door open."

"Well, no, but that's not the point," Kate said, her face slightly pink, "Osgood, what you saw was-"

"Maybe a little bit inappropriate for the workplace but otherwise nothing major whatsoever?" She said pointedly, and Kate faltered, clearly surprised by the statement. Relief then flooded the older woman's features. When no words actually came out of her mouth, Osgood added, "Look, er, Kate, I understand that maybe in your day this sort of thing was a bit hushed up...but it's not a big deal."

"I know," the blonde said, defensively and quietly, "But-"

"And while we're on the topic of slightly awkward truths, if I'm being totally honest," Osgood said, not entirely sure where her spurt of bravery had come from, "Although I am totally and utterly into men, you and your pantsuits nearly caused me to rethink that."

Kate's expression shifted until she resembled a startled deer caught in headlights. "Really?" When Osgood nodded, a tiny smile graced the blonde's lips. With a slightly sad pang, Osgood realised that Kate, at least in this stage of her life, wasn't used to being considered attractive.

"You see, Stewart? You really don't give yourself enough credit."

Osgood and Kate both jumped to see Rani Frey herself leaning against the doorway of the break room. Kate just glared.

"Eavesdropping isn't polite, Rani," she said, but Doctor Frey just smirked.

"Yes, because politeness is one of my well known qualities."

Kate just sighed and rubbed her temples. Osgood couldn't help but be fascinated just watching them. It would seem that while they might have some sort of intimate entanglement, the scientist gave her commanding officer a headache. Not that Osgood could blame Kate in the slightest. Her very little experience with Doctor Frey in the past had given her a similar sort of impression.

"So, are you two dating, or what?"

Their reactions were both priceless and intriguing. Kate immediately winced and glanced at her counterpart, who had gone very still and frowned. Then the blonde's expression shifted and she instead crossed her arms and looked at Rani Frey expectantly.

"Actually, I think you can take this one, Rani," she said simply, smirking and getting herself a cup of tea.

"I don't  _date_ ," the other woman said, grating her teeth together, "The mundanity of the word alone makes me nauseous."

"Ah, the superiority complex coming out again, I was wondering how long that would take," Kate commented offhandedly to Osgood, who incredulously looked between them. "See, this would probably be a good time to mention that she's not human. Not a bad idea for you to know in case something happens to me and a situation arises."

Shocked, but only more interested, Osgood lifted an eyebrow at the non-human woman. "What are you then?"

"Time Lord, a much better example of one than that bumbling Doctor, too. And my name is the Rani, not Rani Frey."

"As I say, superiority complex, god forbid a Time Lord be anything but the definite article of their name," Kate muttered into her tea. Osgood had to laugh.

"Is it just me, or are you-"

"Irritable?" Kate asked, chuckling a little. "Yes, I am. What can I say, she brings it out in me."

"I was going to say overtired, but yeah, that too."

"She didn't sleep well last night," the Rani said in agreement with her fellow brunette.

Osgood crossed her arms and regarded them both. "You know, neither of you have actually answered my question yet. Are you dating? What exactly is your relationship? I know it's not really any of my business, but you seem to have included me in it, so I think you should tell me. If only because you seem to be struggling to come up with an answer and it might be good for you both to try."

The Rani scowled. "I don't take orders from baby humans."

"Interesting that you perceived it as an order," Osgood retorted. The Rani looked at her as if she was torn between wanting to rip her head off and being reluctantly impressed.

"I'm trying to see if I can find a reason to be impressed by humanity. She's the only point in your favour so far," she said.

"That actually tells me very little."

"We spend productive time together somewhat enjoying each other's company and have a sexual relationship," the Rani tried again, making Osgood laugh out loud and Kate groan and sip at her tea all the faster.

"I'm her experiment," Kate said, frustration in her voice, "That's all there is in the end. She's an emotionally inept alien with a much larger lifespan who isn't going to age a day before I'm dead in the ground and will probably skip planet the second she realises how uninteresting I am. What else could there be?"

"Oh, bravo Stewart," the Rani said scathingly, "That was charmingly optimistic. I should be the one spouting off that sort of depressing drivel."

"Oh shut up." Kate rolled her eyes, put her tea cup in the sink and headed for the door. "I just can't deal with you right now." The Rani caught her arm on the way past and held it tight enough that her lover had to come to a halt and face her.

"Don't be an idiot, Stewart," she said quietly yet firmly, "I'm not getting bored of you. And yes there is a very good chance you will die long before I do. I might even bother going to your funeral. But you are far from dead and far from uninteresting and I am far from skipping planet. You're stuck with me for a good while yet."

"Rani," Kate said tiredly, "I just don't have the-" That was when the Rani kissed her, forcefully, to shut her up. Osgood watched, aware that the situation was considerably more private than it had been a minute before but unable to tear her eyes away. There was something primal and instinctive in the connection between the two of them, which explained why they seemed so unsure of why the connection was there and what to do about it.

When they finally pulled apart, with Kate breathing heavily (but also notably more at ease) and the Rani looking satisfied, Osgood just chuckled.

"Yeah, sorry," she said, pulling a face at them, "You're definitely dating." The Rani was back to scowling, but Osgood didn't care in the slightest. "You, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Head of Scientific Research at UNIT, are dating a dangerous alien. That's the best thing I've heard all week."

"You're not going to spread that around," Kate said. It sounded half like an order and half like a question.

"Bit of credit, Kate," Osgood said, laughing, "How thick do you think I am?" With that, she left the break room.

Oh yes. Things had suddenly gotten a lot more interesting at UNIT HQ.


	7. When Mary Poppins Strikes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Missy's plan gets UNIT involved, the Rani is all too keen to get in the way of the one who has been messing with her work for centuries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE/DEATH IN HEAVEN
> 
> If you haven't watched it/don't want to be spoiled, don't read yet.
> 
> Note: I have made an alteration to the Rani and Eleven's conversation in chapter 5 so that this storyline can remain unaltered. The alteration is simply that now the Rani didn't tell him the very important piece of information that she should have, aka that the Master is alive.

When Kate thought of the very important question that should have occurred to her back in June when the Doctor had turned up, she and the Rani were on their third visit to the Natural History Museum.

"Rani," she asked, thinking that in three months she should have clarified this point, "Did you actually tell the Doctor that the Master's alive?"

The Rani tore her eyes away from the dinosaur skeleton, looking very much as though she didn't think this was a question worthy of interrupting her viewing of it. "No."

"No, of course not, that would only be helpful," Kate muttered, almost to herself. She put her hands on her hips. "Did it occur to you that perhaps the Master isn't doing what he told you he was going to, and that it might be best to let the Doctor know of him so that he could take care of it?"

"Because the Doctor has done a superb job of vanquishing the Master in the past," the Rani said with a snort, "They're practically dating. The Master will turn up again when he wants the Doctor's attention."

"Exactly! Isn't it likely that he'll bring whatever he's cooked up to gain that attention to Earth?"

The Rani's mouth quirked. "I suppose so. It's not something I'd given much thought."

"Not something...for the love of sanity, Rani, are you even capable of seeing past the end of your boiling tube?!"

"There's certainly a difference between capable and inclined to-"

"We are not arguing semantics!" Kate snapped, striding away from her. "There is a very real chance, which we have stupidly overlooked, that the Master will come here to wreak havoc."

"And if he does, we'll stop the maniac!"

That had the blonde halting. "We? You'd help us against him?"

"No, I thought I'd find a perch and watch," the Rani said sarcastically, "Yes, I'd help. Bursting that pest's bubble is one of the only enjoyable things left in the world. And I'm certainly not entrusting the Doctor to clean whatever mess he could cook up."

"You and the Doctor would have to play nicely," Kate pointed out, narrowing her eyes. She wasn't sure if she should believe it.

"It'll be a pain, but just bearable. The enemy of my enemy is...a necessary annoyance."

Kate at that moment lurched forward to kiss the Rani then and there in the middle of the museum. Surrounded by curious but only mildly interested spectators, Kate had no other way to convey the complete gratitude that was bursting out of her chest. The Rani's hands grasped the sleeves of her jacket as the brunette woman kissed her back after a moment's surprise. It was over in an instant and when a few people wolf-whistled and the Rani lifted an eyebrow at her, Kate felt herself go red but decided not to care for once.

"Right then," she said mildly, turning for the gallery's door, "We done?"

"You know, I think I'm rather flattered that you think so little of me," the Rani called as she made to follow, "I've felt I've been getting too soft, but if you're still thinking like this then I must be alright."

Kate laughed a bit at that, even if she knew that she really shouldn't.

* * *

Kate spent September and October alone. The Rani had claimed that the "stench of human idiocy" was taking up permanent residence in her nostrils and that only an extended leave of absence would cleanse her. Kate knew it had more to do with the alien brain fluid UNIT's team of scientists had found the week before. Kate had given the Rani permission to take charge of it, much to the rest of the team's horror, and the Rani had been off planet within an hour.

The dig at humanity was hardly necessary to justify wanting to analyse the sample in lengthy solitude - the Time Lady had enslaved entire planets just for her experiments in the past and worked on them alone for years at a time, Kate hardly expected her to be content with the combined effort of UNIT's lab and her TARDIS's. Frankly, it was impressive she had lasted as long as she had.

Still, after four consistent months of having the Rani around, it was odd to have her suddenly absent. Sure, the Rani had taken a day or two at a time to herself before, but after four days Kate couldn't help the peculiar boredom that crept into her chest. It only festered as the days turned into weeks, and by the end of October, a tiny part of Kate's mind began to wonder if she was coming back.

After all, it was hardly outlandish to consider that the Rani had realised she had no good reason return. Why would someone as snobbish and intelligent as her want to re-submerge herself into the world of apes? Someone who wasn't the Rani (a certain bow-tied Time Lord, for instance) might get an ego-burst from being ten times cleverer than anyone else in the room, but she just found it stilting.

Alright, maybe she liked it a  _little_ , Kate knew that much, but the satisfaction was small and secondary compared to the annoyance generated from the frustrating humans.

But damn if she didn't want that pain in the arse back. Preferably as soon as possible.

That was why, when Osgood's hand landed on her shoulder on the first of November, while Kate had been stirring her tea in the break room and letting her mind wander, Kate jumped a mile and nearly split her tea all over herself. With the Rani absent the personal physical contact in Kate's life had been at a low.

"Ohmigosh, Kate, I'm so sorry!" Osgood said immediately, eyes wide. "I didn't mean to give you a fright."

Kate, after checking she hadn't in fact spilled tea on her pantsuit, shook her head. "No, Osgood, it's fine, really."

"She's still not back, is she?" Osgood's face was sympathetic. A little  _too_ sympathetic for Kate's taste. The blonde fixed the appropriate 'I am your boss and I am tough and I most certainly don't need your sympathy' face on the girl.

"No," Kate said simply. "And don't look at me like that."

"Your unpredictable girlfriend has literally disappeared off the face of the planet," Osgood pointed out, "And since I'm the only one who knows about you two, I'm the only one who knows why, as the others are putting it, 'she looks like her favourite cat has run away and is never coming back'."

The blonde lifted a singular, dangerous eyebrow. "And  _who_ was saying that?"

"Doesn't matter. Point is, they're not wrong."

"She's not my girlfriend," Kate said, not for the first time and almost definitely not for the last, "Which is why she's likely not coming back."

Osgood was clearly unsure of whether to believe her, but was worried either way. "Oh, Kate. She's really shaken you up, hasn't she?"

Kate took a sip of her tea and ignored the slight shaking in her hands. "I think she rather has."

Osgood's eyes had fixed on something behind her, but Kate found herself not caring what it was. At least until a familiar low voice said, "Really, Stewart, the lack of faith is both astounding and strangely satisfying all at once."

Kate immediately put her mug down and spun on the spot. The Rani was leaning on the break room door frame, all leather and smirk and everything that put a dull ache in Kate's stomach.

"Rani, I-"

"Weren't expecting me back?" The Rani looked amused by the prospect more than anything else. Her grey eyes didn't deviate from Kate's.

"Well...no."

"I came back when I was needed."

"Needed?"

"I'll explain soon enough. First I thought we could...what do you call it? Catch up?"

Kate laughed at the idea of something so trivial, but then realised that the Rani's version of catching up might not be as chatty as most human catching up was. "Alright then." She approached the doorway.

The Rani chuckled, and the sound was low and a downright innuendo in itself. "My TARDIS is in the corridor."

Only a few inches away from her, Kate breathed in to steady herself and smiled wryly. "You say that to all the girls?"

The brunette smirked again and ran her fingers across Kate's lapel. "Only the ones who have the courtesy to miss me and then deny it later."

They both laughed and Kate had to add, "Well, I certainly didn't miss you-" The Rani's kiss, so fleeting that any passing UNIT worker would have missed it, shut her up quickly enough. Kate managed a quick goodbye to an amused Osgood before she followed the Rani down the corridor and into the cupboard that was her TARDIS.

"How was UNIT in my absence?" The Rani asked from where she was standing at the console.

"Boring," Kate said, and it felt  _so good_ to admit it, "We had two near invasions of the planet and I was still bored. Just another Tuesday."

When the Rani laughed this time, it was her full and throaty one that Kate suspected most beings in the universe had never heard. "Excellent. I've rubbed off on you. You're starting to see how dull humanity can be."

"I'm not so sure excellent is the word."

"Hardly important right now."

With that, the Rani beckoned Kate with a single finger, and when she was in reach, tugged on her jacket to pull her in. Their lips met with that instinctive urge that tied them together when all else seemed doomed to pull them apart, that feeling of just work despite it going against all rationality. Against all they knew and believed in.

* * *

Kate stretched her limbs, the cold floor of the Rani's console room chilling her bare legs. Next to her, the Rani was unabashedly nude but getting redressed quickly, a new focus in her eyes.

"You might want to get dressed, Stewart," the Time Lady said, glancing her way, "I've got news and we haven't got long to act on it."

"Of course you didn't want to tell me the urgent news before this." It should have alarmed her, but Kate could only feel exasperated.

"If you'd needed to know sooner, I'd have told you sooner." The Rani tugged on her tight leather trousers and slipped her boots on with an ease that should have been physically impossible. "You mentioned the possibility of the Master showing up. Well, I've found readings that suggest he's actually on Earth now. Readings coming from St Paul's Cathedral, to be specific. That 3W business you've been investigating may be involved."

Kate blinked, ignored the speck of panic that threatened to surface with a calm she hadn't been entirely sure she still possessed, and nodded. "Alright, we'll get on it." She also went about getting her trousers and shoes back on, before finding a reflective surface on the console to be sure she'd tamed her hair so that no one in UNIT suspected what really went on between the two of them inside the Rani's TARDIS.

They emerged and Kate was quick to inform her team of what was needed for the operation, with the Rani filling in the blanks when more information was needed, though unfortunately the Rani still lacked proper information, which no one found more irritating than the Time Lady herself.

A minute from departure from HQ, news reports came rolling in of cybermen all over the city, and then all over the globe. Everyone in the UNIT vans just met eyes and kept their professional air.

A radio scout informed Kate of a man and a woman emerging from Saint Paul's, both dressed not quite in standard attire, and in the middle of one of the biggest clumps of cybermen.

"A woman? Is she young, short, brunette?" Kate asked quickly. The scout replied in the negative. "Then have we found the Doctor, or the Master? Either of them could have regenerated and be that man, we won't have a clue!"

"I'll know which one it is immediately," the Rani told her, and Kate was surprised but too relieved to question it, "How else could have our society functioned?"

"Fair point. Osgood, tell you what, we might send you on ahead, sort of undercover. The element of surprise is always good."

* * *

Kate, Osgood and the Rani kept themselves strategically hidden behind pedestrians while their disguised UNIT soldiers filtered into the area. In Kate's hand she held a damage Cyberhead, just so that she could show the cybermen who they were dealing with.

"Can you see?" Kate asked the Rani. "Which one is it? Makes a hell of a difference."

The man was tall and wiry with short grey hair and aggressive eyebrows, his clothing somewhat minimalist but hinting at hidden flair. The woman looked like an older, more demented Mary Poppins.

The Rani observed them both with narrowed eyes. Kate could practically hear the cogs in her head whirring and see in her eyes the inquiry her mind was making. Then, of all the damned things, the woman started laughing.

"It's both of them," the Rani said, looking far too amused than was sensible, "She's the Master, and he's the Doctor."

"You can change biological sex?"

"Why not?" Osgood and the Rani spoke at the same time to their blonde counterpart, and then had the sense to look unnerved by their synchronicity.

"Are the humans photographing themselves with the cybermen?" The Rani then asked, with complete disgust. "Just when I thought your race couldn't get any less intelligent, Kate."

"I think she wants to take a photo with him," Kate observed, watching the odd new Time Lord couple, "Osgood, get over there now."

The girl departed, and to her credit did a marvellous job of snatching the potentially deadly device in the Master's hands. "Now!" She yelled.

The UNIT soldiers drew their weapons while Kate and the Rani emerged from their seclusion.

"Afternoon!" Kate greeted the Doctor cheerfully. "You've picked a lovely day for it. My, don't you look shiny. Haircut?"

The Doctor, obviously surprised, just said, "Bit of a trim."

"Might want to do your roots. The woman," she told the soldiers, gesturing for the Master to be seized before introducing herself properly, "Kate Stewart. Divorcee, mother of two, keen gardener, outstanding bridge player. Also, Chief Scientific Officer of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, who currently have you surrounded."

" _Your weaponry is not effective against cybermen technology."_

"Sorry, you left this behind on one of your previous attempts," Kate said nonchalantly as she dropped the broken cyberman head on the concrete. "So now that I have your attention...welcome to the only planet in the universe where we get to say this," she gestured for the Doctor to step forward, and looked at the Rani, "He's on the payroll. And so is she."

"Am I?" The Doctor asked.

"Technically."

"How much?"

"Shush. Any questions?"

The cybermen, instead of answering, took off into the sky. Everyone stumbled back, but the Master, obviously not too interested, was more focused on the Rani's presence.

"Well I've got a question!" She exclaimed. "What are  _you_ doing with this rabble, Rani? Don't tell me you've gone soft."

"Hardly," the Rani said, snorting, "But I have my own reasons for being in the area and disrupting your plans is a favourite pastime of mine, given how many times you've done the same to me."

When the Time Ladies turned back to the cyberman spectacle, the top of St Paul's had opened and the three people actually concerned with the future of Earth were discussing it.

"...everyone in London can see that!" Kate was saying. That was when cybermen began flying out of the dome, and the Doctor's attention was stolen by them, his eyes locking on.

"Everyone in London just clapped and went whee. Hush, I'm trying to count."

Osgood, from behind him, said, "Eighty seven, I think-"

"Ninety," the Rani said over her.

"Ninety one," the Master confirmed, giving a little curtsy. "Queen of Evil."

Kate couldn't disguise her horror. "How could Saint Paul's be full of ninety one Cybermen and nobody noticed?"

"Your planet could have a minor Dalek invasion and no one would  _notice_ ," the Rani snarked, earning a shush from the blonde who didn't currently have time for petty insults.

"Dimensional engineering. One space folded inside another. Bigger on the inside. Easy if you're a Time Lord," the Doctor muttered.

"Mostly deploying south, a smaller number east," Osgood informed them.

"Yep, but one straight up."

"So ninety one isn't a coincidence?"

"Of course it isn't."

While the Doctor snatched the Master's 'phone', Kate turned to her spectacled assistant. "Osgood? Ninety one. Explain."

"Ninety one areas of significant population density in the British Isles."

"That's one Cyberman for every city and major town. It's happening everywhere, all over the world, right now," the Doctor said, his eyes to the sky.

"Sweet planet, this," the Master cooed, "I think I might keep it."

"One Cyberman per city. What could they hope to accomplish?" Kate asked the Doctor, who didn't get a chance to answer before Osgood cried his name and alerted them to the fact that the cyberman above their heads had burst. "Has it exploded? "

The Master smirked. "More than that. Cybermen don't just blow themselves up for no good reason, dear. They're not human."

The Doctor looked at her with a powerful frown on his new face. "If it's not exploding, what's it doing?"

"Pollinating. Falling like rain into the cracks of the Earth. The dead are coming home, Doctor. All shiny and new. In twenty four hours the human race as you know it will cease to exist."

The Doctor demanded for her to tell him what she was doing, but the sedative dart from the UNIT soldier got the madwoman before she could answer. The Rani grasped another one in her hand and visibly took far too much enjoyment in ramming it into the Doctor's neck herself.

While the Doctor groaned and fell to his knees, Kate glared at the only Time Lord left standing. "You didn't have to have so much fun doing that."

The Rani just smirked at her. "I strongly disagree."

* * *

With the two most troublesome Time Lords sedated, it was simple enough to move the operation to the hangar that contained Boat One. The Rani had pointed out that it never hurt to have another TARDIS around, so had taken one of the cars back to UNIT to fetch her TARDIS and land it on the plane.

Kate, meanwhile, got the job of being there when the Doctor woke up and introducing him to the idea of Boat One. Despite him trying to point the blame of him being sedated and restrained at the Rani, and Kate having to be firm in assuring him that it was entirely her own idea, it went as well as she had hoped it would.

After assuring him that the TARDIS was being secured on board, she finally got him on board. Inside the cabin, around the long conference table, were Osgood and Colonel Ahmed.

"Where are we going? Cloudbase?" The Doctor asked sceptically.

Kate glanced at him. "You mean the Valiant?"

"Cloudbase was Thunderbirds," Osgood put in as she went past.

"Too conspicuous," Kate told the Doctor, "We need your location concealed, not advertised. From now on you're a moving target. The Scotsman's attention had shifted to the portrait of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart that sat on the bulkhead.

"Ah, I see you're bringing Daddy along, too. That's very sweet," he commented, and Kate frowned internally at the near cruelty of the comment. Ahmed introduced himself to the Doctor, and while they exchanged words, Kate finally saw the Rani enter the room.

"My TARDIS is just in the corridor," the Rani told Kate immediately, though why she deemed the information necessary to share, Kate wasn't sure. Unless she thought they were going to be needing it?

Meanwhile, Ahmed and Osgood were discussing Captain Scarlet.

"My confidence is growing every minute," the Doctor said as he poured himself a hot drink in the corner.

Kate lifted her hand to her ear. "The President is on board."

"Mind you, me and Sylvia Anderson, you've never seen a foxtrot like it. Hang on a second," he straightened, looking at her suspiciously. "The President? We don't want Americans bobbing around the place. They'll only start praying."

"Not the President of America, sir. The President of Earth," Ahmed told the Doctor as the Time Lord sat down at the head of the conference table, stirring a downright disgusting amount of sugar into his drink.

"There isn't one," he said while doing it.

"There is now."

Kate turned to the Doctor, surprised and amused he hadn't worked it out yet. But, as her father had always told her, for a genius he was incredibly thick sometimes. "The incursion protocols have been agreed internationally. In the event of full-scale invasion, an Earth President is inducted immediately, with complete authority over every nation state. There was only one practical candidate."

"That's your answer for everything, isn't it? Vote for an idiot."

The Rani sniggered from where she was standing by Osgood. Kate had to smirk a little too.

"If you say so, Mister President. So long as you're on this plane, you're the Commander in Chief of every army on Earth. Every world leader is currently awaiting your instructions. You are the Chief Executive Officer of the human race. Any questions?"

The Doctor, after several moment's pensive silence, flicked his eyes towards the Rani. "What do you think of all this?"

"A central world authority is practical for a planet as attention-seeking as Earth," the brunette said, shrugging, "But you're right, they could only vote for idiots because they don't have other options. It's not my planet, I don't care enough to help organise this sort of thing. Still, you're a margin better than anyone they could come up with, arguably." Her eyes came to rest on Kate with enough weight that had Kate wondering if the Time Lady believed that Kate herself would make a better President of Earth than the Doctor. But that was a frightening thought, and an absurd one, so Kate shook her head and chose to ignore it.

"And you're a margin better than another pudding brain, Rani, but that doesn't mean either of us actually think the other is going to do any good here," the Doctor said to the Rani, who just smiled tightly. As usual, it didn't reach her eyes.

Kate could only hope that they would be able to refrain from requiring the babysitting her father had always said Time Lords needed. With a cyberman invasion on her plate, she really didn't have the time to stop her two most useful allies from tearing each other's heads off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole storyline came as a great surprise but I couldn't pass it up, my Master/Rani shipper is too strong. Writing them together, especially like this, couldn't be passed up. I am more in love with Gomez!Master than anyone should be.


	8. Missy and Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rani finds she had good reason not to trust the Master.

The Rani surveyed the scene in front of her. The pleasantly empty room of fifteen minutes before had been filled with various humans in uniform, or as the Doctor rather accurately called them, 'pudding brains'. One positive thing she could say about his new regeneration was that he was a lot less sympathetic towards humans than usual. It made for a nice change.

He'd gone down to interrogate the Master upon her waking, and returned when the rest of the meeting members were ready. The Rani had zero interest in being a part of it, and chosen only to observe from where she leaned against the wall.

The pudding brains were discussing the current cyberman catastrophe, which was certainly important, but something else was also rather pressing.

"I am to understand," she said suddenly, surprising everyone in the room, many of whom who probably had no idea who she was or what she was doing there, "That you've left the Master down there...alone?"

"She has two armed guards, and Osgood," Kate replied slowly, not seeming happy with her meeting being interrupted.

"Same difference," the Rani retorted, "For all the good they'll do. They'll only end up dead."

"UNIT has dealt with the Master before, we can handle it."

"And the fact that you think you can only proves why you can't."

Kate planted her hands on the table in front of her, glaring over it at the Rani. "And, as I'm sure everyone here can agree, your need to prove yourself better than everyone in the room the moment you get bored is irritating and frankly juvenile for someone your age."

The Doctor smirked. "I've always thought so, but then I'm not the one sleeping with her."

The room went silent but for a few surprised intakes of breath. Every human at the meeting table turned to look at Kate incredulously, while she had gone very still. Her face held a mix of partially disguised panic and embarrassment. She looked at the Doctor with an emotion in her eyes akin to a watered down version of betrayal, that said, 'really?'. It quickly was replaced by a professional mask, and the blonde crossed her arms as she came to regard everyone in the room with an even gaze as if mortifying details of her sex life had not just been released to the council in charge of saving the entire planet.

"Cat got your tongue, Stewart?" The Rani asked with grin.

"Shut up," Kate said flatly, "Go and play with your chemistry set." The Doctor started laughing. "Or check on the Master if you really believe her to be an issue. Just. Get. Out."

The Rani couldn't be sure if she felt offended by Kate's reaction, entertained by it, or something else altogether. It was so amusing when Kate was angry, especially when it was with her. But this time there was something different about it that was almost troubling. Almost.

Time Ladies, after all, did not simply get bothered by what humans thought of them. They were pudding brains, what did they know about anything? They often didn't even know what they were thinking themselves.

Without another word, the Rani left the room and headed for the cargo bay, ignoring the talk of 3W she could hear as she did so. Most humans would find her heeled boots impractical for the ladder, but then most humans had terrible coordination and the ladder was perfectly substantial.

Below her, the Master and Osgood voice's filled the cabin.

"...can I tell you something really important?"

"What?"

"I have to whisper it. It's, like,  _so important_ to everyone on this plane. You'll get in trouble if you don't listen."

Halfway down the ladder, the Rani listened in. She couldn't shake the suspicion that she'd arrived just in time.

"Right. If it was that important, why would you tell us?"

"Well look at me, I'm bananas. Come on, just a wee bit closer. You know, the Doctor will be really impressed if you learn my secret."

The Rani got to the floor just in time to tug Osgood backward by the collar of her coat before she could take another step. "Stop right there, bowtie."

Osgood looked at her curiously. "What? She's in handcuffs, with armed guards. I mean I know she's mental, but whatever she was going to tell me is just going to be words."

"It's what comes after the words that matters," the Rani told her, and the Master smirked. "I've known her for centuries. I know her tells. She's planning on killing you, that's her murder face. Maybe she was about to tell you just that."

"She's in handcuffs," Osgood repeated.

"Is she?"

Missy just started giggling. "Oh, I've missed you, Rani dear. You're so much fun, even when you're spoiling mine."

The Rani ignored her and placed her hands on Osgood's shoulders to force her to turn away from the Master and face her instead. "I want you to go upstairs, take the key I am about to give you, get into my TARDIS, and stay there."

"What? Why? I've got work to do-" The girl tried to argue, but the Rani just pulled the key from her pocket and put it against her lips to shut her up.

"She's decided to kill you. End of story. Stewart's already in a foul mood because the grey haired idiot decided to mention the intimate nature of our relationship in front of her entire council. If in addition to that you die after I specifically criticised her for her lack of care for your safety, she'll likely never speak to me again, and that would be tedious."

Osgood, after staring at her for several moments while she considered the words, closed her hand around the key. "Okay," she said quietly. She went to leave, only to turn back. "If she really was going to kill me...then thanks."

The apology made complete sense, by human etiquette, but it still took the Rani by complete surprise. "Don't mention it," she muttered, shoving the human towards the ladder. "Really." Then she turned to face her old enemy and even older friend. "You look ridiculous."

"I thought it was sophisticated and fun," the Master said innocently, pouting, "Don't you like it?"

The Rani smirked as she took several steps forward. "I was referring to the clothes. The regeneration is a marked improvement on the last I saw."

"Ooh, but you should have seen the one I had when I was running this place, I was  _gorgeous_ ," she said, "Though I have to say, you're looking good this time around. I mean it was hilarious when you were so small and almost ginger because you were so furious about it. I'll miss that. But you've been laughing, I think, with this face. I wasn't even sure if you still knew how to do that, you'd been  _such_ a stick in the mud lately."

"Humans are so stupid it's often amusing. Somehow."

"I  _know_ , isn't it adorable and make you want to pop them like balloons?"

The Rani let her eyebrow and lips lift in tandem, just for a second, in a silent affirmation. She observed her fellow Time Lady before leaning in properly, so that their noses were almost touching. Her hands reached around the back of the restraint board to close around the handcuffs hanging from one of Missy's fingers.  _Probably planning on dangling them in Osgood's face before she killed her_ , the Rani guessed as she took them.

"Did you see me with Mr President up there and get a wee bit jealous?" The madwoman whispered, dark eyes showing how much she was enjoying their proximity. "Because I do love him, I really do, but you're much more fun. You know how to  _play_."

The Rani leaned back just Missy lurched forward. The former lifted the handcuffs between them with a single finger. "As I thought," she remarked, "Not to be trusted left alone with humans."

The other Time Lady just shrugged, pull her hands around from the back, and began to apply a fresh coat of lipstick. "Obviously. Now, the real thing that was a surprise was  _you_! You and that blondie up there. The daughter one, Katie Pie. I mean the Doctor and I, we've dabbled with humans - mine was called Lucy, she was so pretty and so  _stupid_  - but I never thought you of all people would go there!"

"I'm not interested in chatting,  _Missy_ ," the Rani said to her disdainfully. "Certainly not about Kate."

"But you  _hate_  them, even more than me...how did you end up in bed with one? Because I'm right, aren't I? You are, in fact, shagging the daughter of my dear old friend the Brigadier. Bad girls, I wonder what Daddy dearest would say if he knew," Missy said, beaming, "But  _why_?"

The Rani didn't see any reason to give an answer. Partially because the madwoman was getting on her nerves, as she always did in the end and often very quickly. Partially because she didn't have a reason to give. She didn't have any way to explain what was going on between herself and Kate, because neither of them really knew. Oh, sure, she pretended to know where she stood on it, even if she still didn't let on to Kate exactly what that faked stance was, but in reality there was nothing.

Problem was, just as the Rani knew the Master's tells, the reverse also applied. Missy's mouth dropped. " _You_ don't even know! Stick-in-the-mud Rani's jumped in headfirst for once!"

"Shut up, you pest," the Rani snapped, reaching out to plant her palm on Missy's chest when she tried to come close to her again. It didn't entirely work. Instead, the madwoman grabbed the end of the Rani's braid and pulled the tie off the end before she could stop her. "I should have known better than to hope you stayed stuck on Gallifrey."

The Master's fingers delved into the braid and began mercilessly unwinding it. "There's no prison that can hold me dearie, you know that better that most. Besides, I helped you get out, you should be  _thanking_ me. Honestly, Rani, your lack of gratitude, it makes me so sad..." After travelling all the way around the back of her while undoing her hair, Missy finally came to stand in front of her again, her face in a pout. "But there, look how pretty you look with your hair all out like that."

_This is ridiculous_ , the Rani thought irritably. "I think you just want to watch me get angry with how its going to get in my eyes."

A mischievous smile appeared on Missy's face and she bit her thumb. "Maybe. But you're so  _hysterical_ when you're angry, Rani, especially when you're angry at me."

Luckily, the Rani was saved from having to answer because the Doctor came down the ladder, his eyebrows looking for blood.

"Did you do this?!" He demanded of her. "Did you let her out? Has this been your plan all alo-"

" _Do not dare to finish that sentence_ ," she seethed, pushing him aside. "I didn't want your lunatic girlfriend free anymore than you did." With that, she climbed the ladder and ignored Missy's giggles as the plane lurched.

When she reached the top, she saw her near mane of dark hair surrounding her head in the overly shiny reflection from the corridor wall. All there was to do was pull a face and continue on only to collide with Kate.

"The Doctor thinks you let her out," the blonde said instantly, crossing her arms.

"Of course I didn't," the Rani snapped. Kate just nodded, apparently having believed that, which the Rani couldn't be sure if she took as an insult or a compliment. "She causes trouble and gets in my way, always has, I'd never set her loose."

"Where's Osgood?"

The Rani resisted the urge to sigh and roll her eyes. Did the humans not understand they almost definitely had larger problems? "In my TARDIS, where the Master can't kill her." Kate opened her mouth but the brunette just added, " _Don't_ ask questions." Around them, the plane shuddered and they had to hold onto each other for balance in their struggle to remain on their feet.

Screams from the cabin had them running back inside and seeing the nearby cybermen through all the windows. Kate snatched the nearest phone and frantically got a message through to Geneva. "Boat One is going down. We don't anticipate survivors."

A second later, a cyberman plunged its arm through a window and grabbed Colonel Ahmed by the neck before letting him be sucked out.

"Kate, TARDIS, now!" The Rani barked, physically pulling her from the room. Kate shook her head as they got back into the corridor and next to the TARDIS.

"I've got to inform the Doctor of the situation first," she said with the stubbornness that in any other situation would be nearly admirable, "Besides," she frowned while looking over the Rani's shoulder, "You need to get Osgood in there too."

The Rani spun to see Osgood standing in the corridor with them.

"My laptop's still down there, it has all my work on it," she said in a quiet voice.

Kate shifted her eyes from her assistant to her lover. "Get her to safety. I'll be along in half a minute."

"I don't-"

"Please, Rani."

The Rani, mentally cursing all humans to the Void itself and swearing under her breath in Gallifreyan, grabbed Osgood by the arm and began wrestling with her to get her back towards the TARDIS. "If you're not back up here in thirty seconds I'm coming to pull you out of there myself, Stewart!" She yelled at Kate, who only half seemed to be listening in her haste to get down the ladder.

"Rani, please, I need my work," Osgood pleaded, and the Rani shoved her into the TARDIS ungraciously to make it clear she couldn't care less. The moment they were inside she headed to the scanner and patched Boat One's security footage through it so that she could see the live feed from the cargo bay.

Kate had just reached the bottom of the ladder, and was telling the Doctor that the plane was doomed.

" _Oh, great,"_ Missy said on the footage,  _"It's the daughter one. Do you like her? I like her, and we know our Rani certainly does."_

The plane jerked again and the Rani held onto the console to keep herself standing, while on the scanner the Doctor and Kate grasped cargo straps in attempts to do the same.

That was when Missy sent a deliberate wink in the direction of the camera before using her handheld device to open the cargo hatch. Within a second Kate was yanked out by the pressure, screaming, while the Rani's hearts came to a halt for an entire second with pure shock. Osgood gasped beside her, and the Doctor, out of a similar emotion, yelled at the top of his lungs with dismay.

" _Why did you do that?"_ He demanded of the Master.  _"You didn't have to do that!"_

" _Oh, don't be so selfish!"_ His old nemesis yelled back at him, also dangling from a cargo strap even as she clutched her device.  _"She wasn't even yours, she was Rani's! And I'm going to miss her too! In fact, you know what? For that, I'm leaving. Boys, blow up this plane, and, I don't know, Belgium, yeah? Kill some Belgians. Might as well, they're not even French!"_

As the Master disappeared with a screeched farewell and a flash of light, the Rani jerked her head away from the scanner and became aware of the fact that she was gripping the edge of her console with so much force that her hands had turned entirely white and felt as though they were going to snap.

For a moment she just stared unblinkingly at them. Then she shoved away from the console and flexed her fingers before getting to work materialising on Earth. There wasn't yet a coherent emotion in her brain after what she had just witnessed, just pure and cold survival instinct.

As the ship landed, the fury began to creep in.  _Damn them,_ she thought,  _damn all of them! Damn the Doctor for not killing the Master centuries ago, damn the Master for doing it purely to spite us, damn Stewart for being so idiotic and getting herself killed!_

A hand landed on her arm, but the Rani immediately shoved its owner away from her. Osgood, tears of grief sparkling in her eyes, stumbled and had to catch herself against the wall due to the Time Lady's strength.

"I never thought about how knowing someone's a killer is different than actually watching them do it," the human girl said, with a lack of fear that was downright stupid considering that she was alone with an indifferent Time Lady who as of ten seconds before had no sympathies towards humans whatsoever. "Oh  _god_ , why did it have to be her…"

The Rani flexed every bone in her body that she could, drawing up scenarios and stratagems in her imaginative mind that all ended with the one thing she currently desired: the Master's painful death.

"And you and her were-" Osgood murmured. Her eyes were full of sympathy and so many other disgusting human emotions that it made the Rani want to empty her stomach then and there.

"I should have let her kill you," the Rani said flatly, looking at her and speaking for the first time since they had witnessed Kate's death.

Osgood faltered. "What?"

"I shouldn't have  _bothered_ ," she spat, "I had no reason to. If you had been dead, I would have been able to force Kate in here instead of her little science brat."

The girl in glasses flinched slightly. She didn't even look entirely surprised by the words, but that didn't mean they hadn't visibly upset her. "I think you're probably right," she whispered.

The Rani slammed her hands onto the console with a belligerent cry. Her loose hair fell across her face and for once the Rani was grateful for the unpleasant tickling sensation on her cheeks which meant the human couldn't see her face and the consternation ruling its features.

"I'm going out there," she finally said, still not looking at Osgood because why would she, "And I'm going to kill that lunatic once and for all, since the Doctor has given her a free pass for too long. Do not follow me. The Master will likely be there and I will not have Kate Stewart's death become even more pointless because you got yourself murdered a minute later."

There was a lengthy silence before Osgood just said, "Okay." The Rani straightened and headed for the door with a new and cold determination pumping through her blood. "But her death wasn't  _pointless_."

"Perhaps not to you. To someone such as myself, every death in battle is pointless."

"Even when it's revenge?" The question was so quiet that for a moment the Rani thought she had imagined it, but the tentative challenge in Osgood's eyes confirmed that she hadn't.

The detestation the Rani had for every creature on Earth rose in her chest like a fast acting poison, one she had been sipping for years. Ignoring Osgood's question, she pushed the door open and walked out into a graveyard, ready to finish it all for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kate's supposed death in DIH is what cemented for me the need to AU the episode for this story. I couldn't shake the idea of the Rani thinking Kate was dead and what it might do to her character here, so we're all about to see! 
> 
> Feedback is always appreciated, especially in terms of characterisation which I am always worried about. Thanks for reading!


	9. Miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rani plans revenge but finds that it might not be necessary.

Because she had materialised her TARDIS silently, the small group in the graveyard didn't initially notice the Rani's presence as she approached them. The Doctor's short human was crying in front of a nearly converted Cyberman, and the two were talking quietly between them.

Just when she thought she was going to have to announce herself, the Doctor turned on his heel to look her dead in the eye. "Rani, Kate, she-"

"I know," the Rani said simply, her voice devoid of anything but cold fact, "And Koschei is going to pay for that. This time she dies too."

"Rani - Clara!" Whatever argument he had been about to make disappeared when he realised that his human pet had run back to and embraced the Cyberman. The Rani didn't know what was going on, nor did she care enough to take half a minute of her time to work it out. Something about the cybermen and what was going to happen to the planet. Nothing important.

That was when the Master teleported in with her ridiculous umbrella. Within a second the Rani was at full attention and ready to take the nearest chance to strangle or vaporise that insufferable smirk off her face.

"Oh, that was brilliant!" The lunatic remarked with delight. "Oh, I love the telly here, but did you see that? Oh, Clara, you poor thing. You must feel like death. Let me pop away the pain." She started to tap on her device only to have it snatched by the Doctor and thrown into the grass some distance away.

"Don't you dare! Don't you think about it!"

"Oh, sorry, hon, I'm just getting a bit carried away. It's your friends, they're so more-ish." That was when Missy noticed the Rani standing nearby and her entire face lit up. "Rani! You've joined us! Good, good. Bad news about your girlfriend, my sincere condolences." She did a tiny curtsy and the Rani just stared at her stonily and did not grace the comment with an answer. Missy shook her head with disappointment. "Dear dear, you kill one human and its like  _all_ manners go out the window, honestly, Rani, you used to be better than this. Not  _much_  better, but still." It was all the Rani could do to not march over there, wrap her hands around that pale neck, and squeeze the life from her like an animal. But the Rani was not an animal.

She was, however, observant. As the Master and the Doctor began their typical lover's spat, which as always involved him trying to work out her plan and dissuade her from it, the Doctor's little human had quietly moved to take the Master's silver device from the grass only to go back to hugging her cyberman and pretend as though nothing had happened.

_This one is a little less useless_ , the Rani thought for a moment, because humans did not interest her, but this one could be helpful. Especially when she was no doubt under the impression she had gone unobserved. Ridiculous, but to be expected of idiotic and arrogant humans. It seemed lifetimes ago that she and the human had been in the kitchen of her TARDIS arguing with the baby faced Doctor about Kate. To look at where they had all ended up, the Rani could only think,  _pathetic_. And pointless. All of it.

After tuning out of the Doctor and Master's conversation, she glanced back to them and listened to the Master announce that it was all for his birthday present.

"Tiny bit pleased?" She was asking, with that aloofness that had disguised her obsession with the Doctor's approval for centuries. "Oh, go on, crack a smile. I want to see if your eyebrows drop off."

"All of this. All of it, just to give me an army?" The Doctor's face was the personification of horror, which was ridiculous in the Rani's opinion. He was always such a hypocrite, acting like a pacifist until the last second.

The idea that it had all been for the Doctor, this entire mess, just a sickening attempt from the Master to create an empathic link...it was unsurprising to the Rani but that did nothing to dilute the fury simmering in her bones. Kate Stewart, the one person in the universe she had been coming close to being able to stand, had died in this futile  _wooing_  between two people she couldn't despise more if she tried.

At her sides, her hands clenched into fists, but she willed herself to wait. Wait until they were done, if only to see the Master get rejected by her great love. Any pain that came before the death the Rani planned to inflict was worth a measure of patience.

So she watched while the morons yelled at each other in the climax of their standoff. The only thing she could think about in the meantime was the fact that Kate, in the Natural History Museum, had been right. The Rani  _should_  have told the Doctor about the Master. But in her own arrogance in her ability to deal with the intergalactic pest, she'd shrugged it off, even laughed about it.

To think what would have been different if she had stopped being superior long enough to listen to the woman who had indirectly prophesied her own death.

The Rani tuned back in just in time to see them on their knees and the Doctor kissing the Master just for a second before getting back up.

"I really didn't know," he said to her, a look of epiphany on his face, "I wasn't sure. You lose sight sometimes. Thank you! I am not a good man! I am not a bad man. I am not a hero. And I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver. Just passing through, helping out, learning."

It was a description the Rani could hardly argue with. She was doubtful she'd ever have such a realisation about herself. She was a scientist. There was nothing more to it.

"I don't need an army. I never have, because I've got them. Always them," the Doctor continued, looking to his human and her cyberman, who were still embracing despite the Master having forced a show of her control of the cybermen earlier. The Rani hadn't been paying enough attention to realise it at the time but saw it now, even if she could quite believe it. "Because love, it's not an emotion," he said, and his eyes flicked to each of the people present in turn, just for a moment, "Love is a promise. And he will  _never_ hurt her. PE, catch!"

The Doctor pointed out what the Master hadn't noticed, while the arrogant idiot tried to deny its plausibility despite the evidence being right in front of her. The cyberman, meanwhile, stepped away from his human and approached the two conflicting Time Lords. He spoke to his cyber-counterparts in what was probably an inspiring speech to the pudding brains present, but to the Rani was just noise.

She dispassionately observed all the cybermen take off into the sky, igniting into an inferno above their heads that left the sky a clear blue when it faded.

"Well, the clouds have all gone."

"Yes, burnt up. Totally burnt. Burnt to nothing." The Doctor glanced at his human sympathetically after a moment of self-awareness. "Sorry."

"Ten zero eleven, zero zero by zero two," the Master rattled off suddenly. They all turned to look at her with incredulous expressions.

"What did you say?"

"The current coordinates of Gallifrey. It's returned to its original location, didn't you think to look?" Her voice was soft in defeat. This was her last resort, her offering to him.

"You are  _lying_!" He spat, and then snapped to look at the Rani. "Rani, you must know, tell me if she's lying."

The Rani  _didn't_  know. She'd escaped Gallifrey while it had still been in the alternative dimension, and the Master had left a reasonable length of time after that. It would be so easy to just say so, but the anger sitting in her gut left her with few words, and silence conveyed her disdain for them all so much better. So she just met his eye and said absolutely nothing.

He stared at her for a moment before cursing.

"We can - we can go together," the Master said to the Doctor with a small, desperate smile, "Just you and me. Just like the old days."

"You'd be clapped in irons."

"If you like."

That was when the human took her chance and grasped the device she'd been concealing behind her but that the Rani had been able to see the entire time.

"Doctor, I'm assuming you'll remember those coordinates?" She asked as she held the device up to point at the Master.

The Doctor's eyes widened. "No. No, don't you dare. I won't let you."

"Old friend, is she? If you have ever let this creature live, everything that happened today, is on you. All of it, on you. And you're not going to let her live again."

"It's not up to him," the Rani said.

In a picture of defeat, he sighed. "Clara, all I'm doing is not letting you kill her. I never said I was letting her live."

"Really?"

"If that's the only thing that will stop you, yes."

He went to take the device from her, only for the Rani to snatch it first.

"You killed Kate Stewart," she told the Master, to be sure she knew exactly why she was about to die, "All to try and win your indifferent boyfriend back. I am not the Doctor, I don't allow pests to live out of weakness and sentimentality."

When the Doctor made no move to stop her and only watched the exchange with a solemn gaze, the Master looked vaguely impressed.

"Seriously?" She asked. "Oh, Doctor. You would have killed me to save wee Clara's soul. What about poor Rani's?"

"He wouldn't bloody his hands for something he knows doesn't exist," the Rani snapped. For a reason she could not fathom, her hands had started shaking, just a little.  _Couldn't this have waited until after I've killed her?_ All she wanted was to kill the one who had killed Kate and be done with it.

"On the contrary, Rani," the Doctor said quietly, staring at her an odd curiosity in his eyes, "I think for the first time, I'm starting to see it."

"Don't pretend to understand me, you can go to hell," the Rani spat at him.

"Say something nice, Rani," the Master said as she raced to position herself between two gravestones like the drama queen she was, "Please?"

When the Rani remained silent and just steadied herself and her aim, the Doctor spoke in her stead.

"You win."

Missy smiled at them both. "I know."

Just before the Rani could press the button, Missy's form disappeared from in front of their eyes in a flash of blue light that resembled a cyberman blast but had looked suspiciously more like a teleport. All the same, the three remaining humanoids whirled around to see a lone cyberman with its arm several rows away. Its other arm then shifted towards a spot to their right.

While Clara moved to investigate, the Rani and the Doctor remained frozen, the former still clutching the device she had been about to use to kill their old friend. Had the cyberman gotten there first? Or had the Master slipped away once again?

"Doctor! Rani!"

After glancing at each other, the two of them rushed to see why Clara was calling them. And there, lying on the grass about ten metres away, was Kate Lethbridge Stewart. The Rani didn't even registered the Master's device falling from her hands as her hearts skipped several beats in their inability to take in what her mind already had.

"Stewart," she exhaled, before sprinting even faster than the Doctor to Kate's side, "Stewart!"

"Kate," the Doctor said similarly, coming to a stop next to Kate's still figure and checking for a pulse. "She's breathing! She's alive! She can't be here."

"She is."

The Rani dropped to her knees by Kate's head and pressed her hand against the blonde's neck, not daring to believe it until she felt the evidence herself. There, the singular pulse beat which she had always regarded with such disdain served as proof of a near miracle.

There weren't words. The Rani just stayed completely still, letting Kate's pulse thrum against her two fingertips again and again and again. Never again would she disregard that single heartbeat.

"She fell out of a plane. The cyberman must have caught her," the Doctor muttered.

"Dad...thank you," Kate murmured, not yet anywhere near full consciousness of coherency.

"Doctor, she's talking about her dad," Clara said.

The Doctor sprinted off to take another look at the cyberman who had pointed them in Kate's direction. "Of course. The Earth's darkest hour and mine," the Rani heard him say, and after a moment's deliberation she got up and made over to him, "Where else would you be?"

Even though the desire to stay by Kate's side was overwhelming, the fact of the matter was that not only her continued existence but her existence in general was owed to the man that the cyberman had been - Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.

The Doctor saluted his oldest friend, and the Rani found herself giving the smallest of nods, in the closest thing she could give to an expression of gratitude. The cyberman lowered his head in a nod of recognition, possibly only of the Doctor's gesture, because the Rani was a stranger to him, but that was unimportant.

While the Doctor breathed a thank you to his old friend, the Rani returned to Kate, who was starting to stir properly.

"I can take it from here," she said to Clara, who had been holding Kate's hand.

The problem was that when the girl nodded, she offered Kate's hand to the Rani, who could only stare at it. Handholding was so human, so disgustingly sappy that it was like nothing she had ever even considered before. But something between Clara's expectant face and Kate's tiny sigh possessed her to take Kate's hand from Clara, though she didn't hold it so much as let her hand rest in it passively.

"Rani?" Kate asked, her voice feeble.

"I tried to tell you not to go down into that cargo bay, you utter idiot," the Rani told her stiffly, and Kate, eyes still shut, choked out a laugh.

"Yes, definitely you."

"Can you move?"

"I don't know. Everything hurts."

"Extreme air pressure will do that to an inferior anatomical system."

Kate's eyes finally opened for the sole purpose of rolling exasperatedly at the Time Lady. "Shut up."

"You fell out of a plane because you didn't listen to my completely founded advice, that's very unlikely to happen any time soon."

Beside them, a previously silent Clara laughed a little, even though tears were still sitting in her eyes. "You two are the only proof right now that the universe has a sense of humour."

"If this is the universe's sense of humour, I don't think I care for it," the Rani said, and Kate chuckled weakly. "What?"

"I was about to say the same thing."

"Is she going to be okay?" The Doctor asked as he came to join the three women. "Even getting caught by a cyberman, you still fell out of a plane, Kate."

Kate's eyes flicked up to him, and she gave him an ironic smile. "Are you asking me if I need a Doctor?"

The two Time Lords smirked, while the Rani just said, "Shut up, Stewart, you're delirious."

"Hardly."

The Rani glanced at the Doctor. "She'll be fine if I have anything to say about it. Don't fret."

"I think I'm in for a lot of aeroplane safety lectures," Kate groaned as she sat up, "Oh my head. Is falling from a plane always like this?"

"Can you walk?"

"Probably not."

"Come on, then, Stewart," the Rani said, her arms coming to rest behind her back and under knees so that she could lift the blonde, bridal style.

"Do you need-" The Doctor trailed off under the withering glare he was sent.

With one arm around the Rani's shoulders, Kate surveyed the situation with her head as high as she could hold it and sighed as an expression of embarrassment came to rest on her face. Disheartened, she said, "Well, this is undignified."

"Almost dying often is, welcome to the club," the Doctor said to her wryly, "It's better than the alternative."

"I'm only allowing this because I don't think I can stand," Kate firmly told the Rani, who rolled her eyes.

"This is your punishment for being stubborn when I was trying to save your life."

Clara chuckled again, but this time it was twinged with heartbreak. "Doctor, could you take me home now? I think these two can manage on their own."

"I'm still not sure about this," the Doctor said, his eyebrows taking his entire face into an indecisive frown. "But-"

"It's still none of your business," the Rani said, with Kate saying something along the same lines in near unison. They smirked at each other before the former said, "Go and look for Gallifrey."

He nodded curtly and began to walk away with Clara before hesitating. "If it's there-"

"Then I'll see it for myself when and if I ever decide I care about the wretched place."

"...right. Goodbye, Kate. Rani."

"Goodbye, Doctor. Thank you," Kate said with a smile. He smiled back and then turned to put his arm around Clara and head for the police box nearby.

The Rani's TARDIS, which had turned into a tiny mausoleum, wasn't too far off. The Rani adjusted Kate's position in her arms and began walking towards it, strong enough that she was only slowed a little from her usual pace. Kate, meanwhile, had shut her eyes in a sudden exhausted nap against her shoulder.

When they came through the doors, a silently tearful Osgood sitting against the wall opposite them looked up only to freeze completely.

"Just follow," the Rani said before the girl could speak up and get emotional before Kate was somewhere where she could rest. Osgood, who was all eyes and gaping mouth, just wordlessly did as she was told.

They came into the sterile and basic kitchen that the Rani had never any inclination to personalise. There was a plain lounge seat as stark white as the rest of the room that ran around the two walls that weren't cupboards and counters, and the Rani set Kate down on it so that her head was pillowed by her hands and she could nap comfortably.

Then, and only then, with the two of them in the kitchen and a safe distance from Kate, was Osgood given the signal to speak.

"She's breathing," the girl exhaled, "For a second I thought she was dead and you'd found the body but then I remembered that was impossible because she'd fallen from a plane and if she'd hit the ground then-"

"Inhaler."

Osgood and the Rani spun to see Kate pushing herself up to a sitting position. The blonde smiled at them minutely and leant against the back of seat. Osgood's entire face lit up and she ran to her boss's side and leant down to hug her forcefully.

"Kate! Oh, Kate, we thought you were dead," Osgood said, her tears starting up again.

"So did I, for a moment," Kate replied, laughing a little as she hugged her assistant back just as tightly. "But it takes a lot to kill a Lethbridge-Stewart."

"Especially when they look out for one another," the Rani said. Kate's dark eyes shone with love for her father as she nodded, but Osgood pulled away from Kate to look between them curiously.

"How do you mean?"

"All the dead came back to life as cybermen," Kate reminded her, "The reason I'm alive is because one of them saved me after I was sucked out. The person who loved me enough for it to override the cyber control."

Osgood's hand flew to her mouth. "Ohmigod, Kate."

Kate just smiled through a set of brimming tears. "He always said he'd watch over me until the end. The end just wasn't where I thought it was."

Osgood gripped her hand and the two humans sat together while the Rani made herself a drink and just watched them as she stirred it. Finally, it occurred to her to say, "Your father pointed us in your direction, once he brought you to the ground. The Doctor even saluted him."

"Really?" Kate's smile widened. "He finally got his wish."

"He also may have been the one to finally succeed in putting the Master down."

"Oh?"

"Well, I never assume the Master is dead," the Rani said, "Purely from past experience. But if she is, then we have your father to thank."

"She was going to kill me," Osgood murmured, as if she was only just remembering, "I didn't quite believe it at the time, but I can see her face in my head and you were right, Rani, she was planning my murder even as we were talking."

"You really saved her." Kate's flat surprise brought about that conflict within the Rani on whether she should be insulted at the lack of faith or pleased that she wasn't being thought of as soft or  _good_.

"She really did," Osgood said, looking the Rani in the eye and standing up to do so. "I owe you my life."

"Then it's a good thing I don't want it," the Rani replied, and the girl's mouth twitched, but not in a way that was entirely lighthearted.

"Don't worry, you made that perfectly clear five minutes later," she muttered.

"I imagine I did. If you want to be helpful, make Stewart a cup of tea, she's still pale."

Osgood moved to do just that, though she eyed the Time Lady sceptically. "Genius alien chemist can't make a cup of tea?"

"The mundane nature of it would see me die of boredom."

The two of them passed each other and the Rani came to join Kate on the long couch while Osgood took up in the kitchen. After their small exchange, the blonde was eyeing them with suspicion.

"What exactly did that mean? The five minutes later?"

"It's not important now. You were dead. She was angry. Went into the second stage of grief and stayed there, I think. Probably didn't even mean it."

Kate was a great many things, but slow wasn't one of them by a long shot. Her gaze immediately narrowed in on the Rani. "What did you do? What did you say? It was something horrible, wasn't it?"

"In case you haven't worked it out already, Stewart, I  _am_ horrible," the Rani snapped, "And as for you, Bowtie, when I told you that I shouldn't have bothered saving you so that I could have saved Kate, I meant it. It's no longer relevant, but I meant it at the time because I'm  _not_ nice and I'm  _not_ somebody who saves people."

Kate, now looking at her lover with disgust, jerked her head away. "No, you save your experiments."

The Rani stared at her and pursed her lips before grabbing Kate's chin and pulling it back around so that they were eye to eye. "Yes, I do. They're the only thing I kill for."

"And Kate, she was going to kill the Master," Osgood blurted. "The moment we thought you were dead, it was her only thought. She was going to kill for you."

That did the opposite of pacify Kate. "Is that supposed to please me? You know, after all this time I thought I'd had some affect on you," she spat at the Rani, "But you make me sick. I'm not  _anybody's_ little experiment. You can go to hell."

The Rani held Kate's gaze, even though the Lethbridge-Stewart tried to wrench her chin from her grip. "All my life, I have dedicated my life to learning. To using my extensive knowledge to obtain more knowledge, no matter the cost to me or anyone else. My experiments, my work, that's what I live for, and they are  _the only thing_ in this universe that I care about. If I say you are an experiment, Stewart, it is the highest expression of worth I'm capable of giving."

Osgood adjusted her glasses and smiled at them. "Just because you aren't a boiling tube doesn't mean you haven't taught her things, Kate."

"You can zip it," the Rani told her sharply.

Kate's face was so full of conflicting emotions it was a wonder her head didn't explode. Her hand touched a strand of the Rani's unbound hair while her impassive face gained a spark of mischief. "Did I give the infallible Rani a fright when I was dead?"

"Shut up."

Their lips met then, with the force that had gotten them started months before. Fueled by near loss and ridiculous misunderstanding, it was all the more important to make up for it with something much simpler. The Rani's held Kate's body steady in case it decided to give up on them unexpectedly, while Kate's hands wound in the Rani's mane of hair and kept her mouth against hers.

When they broke apart so that Kate could replenish her oxygen supply with several shallow breaths, they became aware of Osgood watching them intently with her mug paused halfway to her mouth. Watching a little  _too_ intently. The girl hurriedly sipped at her tea when she realised she'd been caught.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare, I just-" Her fingers tapped against the mug. "I...really need a boyfriend. Or something."

Kate laughed softly. "Maybe the Rani would permit you to take a look around a few of her labs?"

Osgood's eyes popped out of her head. "Would you, Rani?"

The Rani glowered. At both of them. Internally, she weighed up the merits of being left alone to snog Kate Stewart brainless (or  _more_ brainless, given today's events) and the dangers of a pudding brain unsupervised amongst her precious equipment.

"...fine," she growled. "But if you touch  _anything_ -"

"You'd kill me or remove my fingers or something, yeah," Osgood said, grinning with a breathless excitement. "Thank you so much, it's a real honour and-"

"Get out."

"Right."

Kate had enough time to laugh before the Rani's hands slid under her thighs and shifted her so that her knees were on the couch either side of the Rani's hips. Now with the human comfortably in her lap, the Rani could reach up to lose her fingers in Kate's astray golden hair. But before she could kiss her again, Kate placed her hands on her shoulders to keep distance between their faces.

"When you thought I was dead...what did you-"

"I immediately made plans to kill the person responsible for shaping the universe to no longer include you."

Kate nodded slowly, looking as though she wanted to ask more but knew better than to do so. "I suppose that's something."

"There's always something, Kate," the Rani said, and yanked her down into a kiss without another word. This time, thankfully, Kate gave up on words and allowed the Rani to answer her unspoken question with a method where she was significantly more eloquent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, the Rani trying to act as though she wasn't having a mild emotion. :')
> 
> I'm a bit worried about the characterisation of this chapter for rather obvious reasons, though, so feedback on that in particularly would be amazing because I do tend to fret.
> 
> These three Death In Heaven chapters have come out very easily, but don't expect such quick updates after this! It's back to the drawing board now. 
> 
> I'm in the process of working out a playlist for an 8tracks mix for Kate and the Rani, so if you have any title ideas or song suggestions feel free to let me know!


	10. Birthday Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which it is Kate's birthday and the Rani (with some prodding from Osgood about birthday presents) offers Kate the one thing she could never resist...a trip back in time to see her father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no excuse for how long this chapter took for me to write. It just...didn't want to come out and I was too lazy for a long time to try and force it when I had other writing projects to do instead. BUT I AM BACK and this story is far from abandoned!
> 
> Bringing the Brigadier into this story, finally, was a joy. I haven't written him much before, so it's been new ground, but hopefully I did him justice!

The Rani had been having a perfectly adequate morning before the spectacled human cornered her in the UNIT break room.

"So, it's Kate's birthday in a couple of days," Osgood said, grinning at her with a glint in her eyes that made the Rani think that there was a lot more to her words than one might think.

"Good for her," the Rani replied disinterestedly.

The girl frowned. "You  _do_ have something planned for her, right?" When the Rani just shot her a sceptical look, the human sighed. "Who am I kidding, of course you don't, you're a useless snob of an alien who would never observe human celebrations of her own free will."

The Rani snorted, if only at the bravery she possessed to be able to address her in such a manner. "Well, that's one way to put it, but I shan't call it inaccurate."

"You're going to be a pretty shite girlfriend if you don't get her anything."

"I'm not her-"

"Yeah, yeah, get a different tune," Osgood said, flapping her hand. The amusement the Rani had been feeling a moment earlier due to the girl's lack of appropriate fear was replaced by annoyance. She grabbed the hand – or rather, the wrist attached to it - before it could retreat back to its owner's side.

"Just because I saved your life and am bedding your superior, doesn't mean you can be entirely flippant with me, bowtie," the Rani growled. She felt great satisfaction when she saw a slither of fear enter the other female's eyes. "I'm still near enough 50 times older than you are and more than willing to use you as a live subject for a new line of experiments."

"Kate would never let you," the girl said, somewhat lamely. Her effort to be brave was commendable, the Rani supposed, but ineffective.

"Kate would never need to know," the Time Lady said smoothly and without hesitating, "My TARDIS has infinite storage she has no access to and I have chemicals that would dissolve your entire body in less than a second."

Osgood gulped but kept her chin high as she wrenched her wrist out of the Rani's grip and headed for the door. "Just make an effort to do  _something_  for her, alright?"

The Rani pointedly ignored her and scowled at the opposite wall as she was left once more on her own. Was this something Kate would actually be expecting of her? Kate wasn't one to assume anything when it came to her, but that didn't necessarily mean the blonde wouldn't be disappointed to some degree if the Rani failed to observe what Osgood had called a 'human tradition'.

What sort of gift did a birthday warrant? Something bought, something made? She had no idea. There wasn't a manual for finer points of human culture such as this, or at least not one she had ever had the misfortune to be exposed to.

Muttering under her breath about how she ought to slip all the humans hallucinogenic drugs and watch them run around for a while before skipping planet all together, the Rani sighed and headed back to her lab, all the while cursing how she had ever gotten herself into this mess.

* * *

"Happy Birthday, Stewart." They were in the Rani's lab, and her words had no warning or build up because the Time Lady had no idea how one went about something as trivial as a birthday.

Kate's obvious shock, intensified by a frown, had the Rani ready to backtrack almost immediately. "What?"

The brunette frowned back at her. "Did I say it wrong? I was rather sure that what you apes say to each other-"

"No, no, you didn't say it wrong," Kate said, hastily, "I just – wasn't expecting any sentiment of the sort from you. How on earth did you know it was my birthday? It's not on the official records."

"Your science brat mentioned it. Wouldn't stop going on about how I needed to be getting you a present, of all the wretched things."

Kate chuckled, despite her still present surprise. "I'm trying to imagine you in Marks and Spencer's trying to pick out a mug for me, and it's so bizarre I just can't quite manage it."

"Who are Mark and Spencer?" The Rani asked, her frown deepening.

Kate laughed again but with a hint of awkwardness. "No one important. And don't worry, I certainly am not expecting a present or anything of the sort from you."

" _Anything_  of the sort?" The Rani echoed. "And what if I had something planned?"

"What sort of a something?"

"A…gesture. Or, more accurately, a trip somewhere that only I could offer."

Kate tilted her head, plainly confused. "A trip where?"

"To see your father."

* * *

Kate's brain had shut down. Or rather, frozen due to an overload of too many thoughts and emotions and objections whizzing through it at once. Longing, rejection, grief, love, confusion...all thrown in there with the very prominent thoughts of  _why would she offer this_ and  _this must be against the rules_.

Which is why not a single word had escaped her mouth and she was just staring at the Rani with unparalleled shock.

"Stewart?"

"Why?" Kate found herself asking. "That's got to be against the rules, you taking me back to see my father."

"As one of the only remaining members of my species, that's for me to decide," the Rani replied curtly, "We wouldn't be changing anything, and we'd be passing you off for the Kate of that time, there's no need for him to know when you're from."

Kate frowned. "But why? Why would you offer this to me?"

"Because it's the one thing I can offer that no one else can or will," the Time Lady said, shrugging, "Besides, if you don't object to the idea, I admit that I wouldn't be averse to meeting him if I were to take you back." Before Kate could say anything, she added, "Though you would be perfectly justified in requesting for me to remain in the TARDIS, even if I would prefer to be with you to be sure you don't say anything damning to the causal nexus."

"No, I'd want him to meet you," Kate said without really thinking, only to be surprised when she realised a part of her had been wishing hopelessly that she could have known what her father would have thought of her choice in companionship. She had never thought she would get a chance to find out.

"So is that a yes?"

"Of course it's a yes, you're offering me a chance that most people would kill for!" Kate told her, laughing a little as she considered what was about to happen. "Can we go now, or-"

The Rani just pushed the doors to her TARDIS open in invitation. Kate, however, first made a beeline for the time machine's pilot and pulled the Time Lady into a tight hug that had her stiffening completely.

"Thank you."

When the Rani just muttered a noncommittal response and didn't move a muscle to return the gesture, Kate let go and went into the TARDIS. If her mind hadn't been so singularly concerned with seeing her father again, she would have stopped and realised that she had never hugged the Rani before that moment.

What she was aware of was that this was the first time she would witness the Rani performing a proper jump through time and space, as opposed to the small number of instances she had witnessed only the latter, which was considerably less complex.

Watching the brunette now was like watching an artist at work, which was odd in itself due to the methodical nature of both of the operator herself and the work she was doing. But there was still something awe inspiring about it, watching the Rani stepping with practiced ease and grace around the hexagonal console and pressing buttons with light precision and twisting dials without an ounce of unneeded force.

It was one of the only times Kate could have described the Rani as being gentle (the others being any time she had witnessed her with a precarious experiment).

It didn't take as long as Kate expected.

"23rd February 2011," the Rani told her as she flicked the door switch. "I don't suppose you know where you were at this particular time?"

Kate gave it some thought. "Dealing with an incident in Paris, I believe."

"Good. This is dangerous enough without you running into yourself."

"If it's dangerous then why do it?"

The Rani rolled her eyes. "Don't read into this, Stewart, just get moving."

They exited the box and Kate found she knew the way to the rest home from where they were, and so led the way.

The building looked unassuming from the outside but Kate knew it was top of the line because she and the top members of UNIT had ensured that Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart received only the best care. The reception was small but immaculate, the entire place with dark wooden panelled walls and a single woman at the desk opposite the door.

"Lethbridge-Stewart," Kate told her as she and the Rani approached.

"Of course," the receptionist replied, and Kate recalled that the staff here knew her well because of how often she had visited her father.

No further exchange was needed because Kate knew the way. She indicated for the Rani to follow her and they headed down the corridor. A sense of déjà vu crept up on Kate. She could remember the way to her father's room without second thought, could remember how she had made the turns over and over and with increasing dread as her father had gotten sicker and sicker.

And then the door was right in front of her and her hand was hovering right above the handle. Not quite able to touch or turn.

"It's alright, Stewart," the Rani murmured from behind her, and the Time Lady's smooth voice brought a calm to Kate's unsteady heart, enabling her to open the door and walk inside the room.

Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was sitting up in bed reading the newspaper, and when he saw his visitor he blinked and lowered it.

"A surprise visit, Tiger?" He asked, his lips twitching.

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" Kate didn't think it was likely she was, but it seemed polite to ask. She was just impressed that her voice remembered how to work given how fast her heart was beating.

He was really there. Right in front of her. Breathing and smiling and staring at her with those eyes that weren't any different from how they had been so many years before in her childhood.

"And what on earth would you be interrupting?" The Brigadier inquired, lifting an eyebrow. "This place is frightfully dull." He for the first time noticed the Rani, who had come in after Kate and shut the door behind them. "And who is this?"

Kate opened her mouth to introduce the Time Lady when it occurred to her that she would likely not appreciate Kate speaking for her. But when she glanced over her shoulder, the Rani just gave a tiny nod of permission.

"This is Rani," Kate said, "She's, er, a friend. From work."

"In a manner of speaking."

The Brigadier held a hand out to her. "Well, good to meet you, Rani." He seemed uncomfortable with not having a last name to address her by, but Kate had not provided him with one. Luckily, the Rani looked similarly uncomfortable shaking his hand, though she hid it well and Kate figured she only noticed because she knew the Rani's body language as well as anyone could at this point.

"Good to meet you too, Brigadier," the Rani replied, making him chuckle.

"So my reputation still precedes me in certain circles."

"Of course."

Kate pulled up a chair so that she could sit by his bed. "It's good to see you," she said, her throat thick with emotion she struggled to keep masked.

"You saw me a week ago," he said, and she smiled slightly.

"Oh, I know, but...a week can be a lifetime." She fished for a better subject of conversation. "The Doctor dropped in yet?" It occurred to her that she needed to be careful, because she wasn't supposed to have met the Doctor personally yet and therefore had to act accordingly.

"No, but there's still time," the Brigadier replied, shrugging, "He's impossible to pin down, that one. Busy fellow. How's Gordon?"

"Busy being brilliant, you know how he is," Kate said, finding the topic of her son easy enough, "Still finds time to drop in to make tea for his old mum, so not a lost cause yet."

"And Lillian?"

Kate had to hesitate there and recall exactly where her daughter was in 2011. "Adjusting to life in America. Says she likes the shopping there and that everyone likes her accent." The Kate of the time they were in had been glad of the trip to Paris because it took her mind off the sudden absence of her daughter, who had only moved to America with her father at the beginning of the year. Kate had come to terms with it since, but her father was likely expecting her to still be adjusting herself.

"And missing you?"

Kate smiled, realising just how long it had been since she had seen Lily and that she needed to rectify that once back in her own time. "I certainly hope so. I know I miss her."

"I'm sure something will pop up over the pond which will give you an excuse for a visit," her father said cheerfully, "Aliens don't  _always_ come to Britain, you know."

"I'm aware," Kate said dryly, "Don't you worry."

"Does America have their own Natural History Museum?" The Rani asked Kate, unfortunately sounding far too interested in the prospect of finding out what the United States had to offer.

"Possibly," Kate told her, shooting her a warning look over her shoulder, "We can look into it later."

"Oh, but America's the incredibly religious place, isn't it?" The Rani made a face. "Not entirely sure I want to subject myself to that. On second thought, let's  _not_ go there."

"Rani," Kate hissed, but it was a little late. The words were out, the words that implied paired travelling that in turn implied...well, a not entirely platonic relationship. Sure enough, the Brigadier was regarding them curiously.

"So which one are you?" He asked the Rani, surprising both women with his question.

"What?" They asked in unison.

"Come now, I've met my fair share of Time Lords and I know one when I see one," he said, giving the Rani a firm look, "So don't bother lying."

"I am the Rani," the Time Lady said, arching an eyebrow at him.

"And what sort are you?"

"The amoral, complicated, science-before-all-else sort," Kate muttered. The Brigadier just chuckled, and she had to join him. "Oh, Dad, I should have known you'd notice."

"Between the grandiose posture and visible superiority complex, you learn to pick them in seconds with my years of experience."

"I suppose that's true."

He narrowed his eyes at them both. "Of course, I didn't expect to find one sleeping with my daughter." When Kate just gave him a slightly sheepish look, he sighed. "I was rather hoping you were going to correct me on that."

"Would you like me to apologise?" The Rani asked, lifting an eyebrow from where she was leaning against the wall.

"Would you?"

She smirked. "No."

He let out a noise that was somewhere between a sigh and a chuckle. "Oh, you're one of them alright. Still, I imagine my Tiger is keeping you in line as best she can." He looked at his daughter. "You didn't just come back here for my approval, did you? How long has it been? A couple of years?"

Kate blinked. "What?"

The Brigadier held her gaze, his eyes still sharp as anything. "Now, Tiger, what was that about not assuming to be pulling one over your old man? I know perfectly well that you're in Paris right now."

"I could have come back early."

"Your watch is the wrong time," he pointed out, "And your watch is  _never_ wrong."

Kate glanced down and groaned at how she had missed such an inconsequential detail. "Aren't people meant to get  _less_ observant with age?"

"Watch it, Tiger." He then added, "You also more or less implied that you had met the Doctor, which I know you haven't done yet because you'd have come gushing in about it the moment it happened."

Kate just rubbed her temple and smiled at him. "He gives me a headache."

"Now you know how I felt for a good twenty years. I had the Master to deal with at the same time."

"So did I," Kate replied, smiling at the similar things they had done, "She threw me out of a plane."

The Brigadier frowned. "She?"

"These days," the Rani said, nodding, "Her new female form is probably more annoying than all her other ones combined."

"Good to know things are staying interesting for you," the Brigadier said mildly, glancing at his daughter who just chuckled.

"Always." One thing about following in her father's footsteps was that she knew that he would always have gone through a different version of any given dilemma a few decades before. When it came to work, they were always on the same page.

"I've found that it's an inevitable fact of my life that the Master will always find a way to turn up again and get in my way," the Rani said, sighing.

"Mine too," the Brigadier replied, and the two of them shared sympathetic looks.

"So I'm not disowned for sleeping with the enemy, then?" Kate asked her father wryly. He just chuckled.

"Hardly. I'd have most likely had to fire the Doctor decades ago if we got strict about that sort of thing," he admitted, "Besides, if she's not causing too much trouble then she's not automatically the enemy."

"I've  _never_ set out to be  _anyone's_ enemy," the Rani huffed, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall, "It's not my fault that a certain dilly dandy kept getting offended by my scientific methods."

The Brigadier lifted an eyebrow. "I think this is one of those situations where the less I know the better, hm?"

"Yes, it is," Kate said, patting his arm, "Oh, I've missed you, Dad." When his expression softened, she got up from the chair so that she could hug him tightly. "It's been too long. You know I can't say how long, but...well. Too long."

He hugged her back with a strength that surprised her, but probably because she could remember how feeble his hugs had been in the end. "I'll never be completely gone, Tiger. You'd do well to remember that."

"I know that you'll always be looking out for me, long after I would have thought it possible," Kate said, thinking of how she had been falling through the sky and sure she was going to die until he had caught her and brought her safely to the ground.

"Of course," he said, with complete certainty. "I'm your father. It's what I do."

They talked for another ten minutes before the Rani expressed her intentions to leave them on their own for a while.

"Well, Rani, it was good to meet you," the Brigadier said, holding his hand out to her again. When she shook it, he gripped it tight and gave her a firm look, "And I'll have you know that if you double-cross or hurt my daughter in any way, somehow I will find a way to make you regret it, are we clear?"

Kate watched the exchange with worry, unsure of how the Rani would react but expecting something along the lines of an eye roll or a suggestion of him minding his own business. Instead the Rani just held his gaze.

"I'll keep it in mind," she said flatly, before taking her hand back, "It was good to meet you too." With that she left the room, leaving a pleasantly surprised Kate in her wake.

"You know, I keep thinking that one day soon she'll stop surprising me," the blonde said, staring after her, "But I might just be wrong about that."

Her father eyed her with his eyebrows lifted again. "I suppose a normal human fellow was never going to be on the agenda?"

Kate smiled. "That would have been so easy, and normal...and boring." She sighed and let her head rest on her hand. "Somewhere along the line, life without an insufferable alien genius with questionable morals got rather dull."

The Brigadier made a face. "Well, I suppose you don't entirely have to explain that one, not to me. Are you happy?"

Kate realised that she very much was, that somehow between work and Osgood and the Rani, she had become incredibly content but for missing her daughter. "I am," she said, smiling at him, "I really am, Dad. And if I ask nicely, the Rani might even take me to America to see Lily. I'd need to bribe her with something to do with dinosaurs, but that's easy enough. Failing that I could just take a plane like everyone else."

He frowned. "Dinosaurs?"

"She's obsessed with their untapped potential," Kate explained, shaking her head, "It occurs to me that I should get her to watch Jurassic Park." They chuckled together and ended up playing a game of chess like Kate could remember doing with him on most of her visits. She purposefully drew the game out as long as she could, which was easily done due to how easily matched they were. But eventually he checkmated her and she knew in her heart that it was probably time for her to go.

Apparently her distress was written on her face.

"You have to go some time," her father said, giving her hand a squeeze, "Your old man needs his sleep."

"But I'll never see you again," Kate protested, not caring about how much she sounded like a child. Right now she felt like one. She was a tiny child who wanted her dad and didn't want to let him go no matter what.

"Perhaps not," the Brigadier said, giving her a sad smile, "But that's just the way things work, Tiger. These things happen, Time Lords or no."

She did her best to smile back but was all too aware of the tears filling her eyes. "I know. It just doesn't seem fair." She hugged him again, and refused to let go for a rather long time. When she finally pulled away, he kissed her cheek affectionately.

"Keep looking after the Earth for me," he said, smiling, "I really did put a lot of work into it."

Kate laughed a little, though had to stop to sniff. "You know I always will." She got up and kissed his forehead, knowing that she had to leave before she lost the strength to walk away. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, Tiger."

She got up and went to the door. "Miss you," she whispered, and it was both a confession and a promise. Then she left her father's room and walked down the hallway with tears running down her cheeks. Once out of the building, she had to stand out on the street and compose herself as best she could. The idea of the Rani seeing her in such a state was not a pleasant one.

Finally she was mostly under control and able to walk back to where the Rani's TARDIS was parked on the street and disguised as a red telephone box. When she went inside, the Rani seemed to be making adjustments under the console, but she got back on her feet upon noticing Kate's arrival.

Her sharp grey irises examined Kate's face, no doubt taking in the reddened eyes that Kate knew she had.

"Are you alright, Stewart?" She asked cautiously.

Kate hesitated, before taking her face in her hands and kissing her fiercely instead of offering her an answer. The Rani made no protest, and gripped her hips with her strong hands.

"Thank you," Kate said against her lips when she briefly pulled away to catch her breath.

The Rani just nodded. "You're welcome. Happy Birthday, Kate." She spun them so that Kate was the one pressed against the console, and kissed her again. "Don't expect  _anything_ like this next year."

Kate chuckled against her lips. "I won't."

"Good. Now shut up and let me give you your other present."

"My other present?" Kate felt the other woman's hands go to the fastenings of her trousers, and watched her drop to her knees. "Oh."

The Rani just smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was at least partially worth the wait. Writing the Brig/Kate farewell was hard because I got unexpectedly emotional about it. 
> 
> I recently finally settled on an approximate FC I like for my Rani, which is Julianna Margulies, just for anyone that cares about that sort of thing.
> 
> The next chapter will be Kate and the Rani going to the US so Kate can see Lily, but you can expect some jealous clashing between the Rani and Kate's ex-husband/Lily's father. Should be fun.


	11. Family Matters: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate decides to try and rekindle her relationship with her daughter, with the Rani's indirect help.

Kate's chance to see her father one last time had reminded her of another family connection that had been absent from her life for far too long. It had been over three years since she had seen her daughter Lillian in person, and certainly a good year since she had even spoken to her over video call.

Things with Lillian and the girl's father were, well, complicated. Ever since The Incident.

Despite the tensions there from that debacle, they had told her that she was free to visit if she was ever in the United States, provided she of course called first. But her duties to UNIT had thus far made it impossible to be able to justify a visit that involved almost a day of travelling both there and back. So much could go wrong in a day.

But now, there was the Rani. Or more specifically, her TARDIS. She could be in Oregon in mere minutes and if any global emergency occurred she could be back in London for thirty seconds after she had left.

Problem was, that meant bringing the Rani along. The idea of the Time Lady meeting Kate's ex-husband Henry was enough to give her an instant headache. There was no way at all that it could go well.

There was also the issue of needing to convince the Rani to take her, which would be a mission in itself and probably have to involve multiple museum trips at the absolute minimum. And then Kate would need to decide if she  _did_ want the Rani to meet Lily and Henry or whether keeping her as far away as physically possible was a wiser move.

After all, the Rani didn't do domestic. That was a recipe for disaster. Yes, keeping them separate was definitely the better option. Some worlds weren't meant to collide.

* * *

"Out with it, Stewart, before your twitching gives me any more of a headache."

Kate blinked. She had been trying to think of a way to broach the America topic, but apparently her uncertainty had been noticeable. Then again, the Rani was prone to being hyper aware of distractions in her lab if she wasn't in the mood for tuning them out.

"Sorry," the blonde said, rubbing her temple. "It's just - I want to ask you about something and I'm not sure what you're going to think."

The Rani looked up from the beaker in her hands. "It sounds like you know all too well what I'm going to think, and for some reason are going to ask anyway."

"Well, yes. It's about Lily."

"Your daughter."

"Yes."

"You want to visit her in America and want to use my TARDIS as a way of getting there more efficiently."

Kate just gaped at her. "How on earth did you know that?"

"It's hardly an outrageous scenario."

"So...you wouldn't mind?"

"As long as you don't have any delusions about my interest in meeting your daughter and ex-husband. I'll leave you to the tedious domestic pleasantries and explore a little, find out what sort of laboratories and museums they have nearby."

Kate lifted an eyebrow. "You know most laboratories aren't open to the general public?"

"Of course not," the Rani said, smirking, "But I imagine a UNIT scientist with a specific endorsement from the Head of Scientific Research would be allowed access to whatever she wanted."

The human managed to resist the urge to roll her eyes but not the one that had her sighing. "I'm not sure how I didn't see that coming," she muttered, "I suppose I should almost count myself lucky that everyone who found out about our relationship ended up dying, or else we'd have to worry about people saying I'm giving you special treatment."

"You  _are_  giving me special treatment," the brunette pointed out, making Kate falter, frown, and huff before striding out of the room.

* * *

That Sunday, Kate sat in her apartment and stared at the phone, somewhat hoping Lily might magically know she wanted to talk and call her first. Finally she took a deep breath and lifted it off the hook before dialling the lengthy international number. As it rang, she became aware of her heart pounding in her chest.

She hadn't seen Lily since the Brigadier's funeral in 2011. What if she called and Lily didn't even want to talk to her, let alone have her come and visit?

" _Hello?"_

"Lily," Kate said, relieved to hear her daughter's voice.

" _Mum?"_

"Yes, it's me. How are you?"

" _I'm good! It's nice to hear from you."_

"It is?"

" _Of course it is, why wouldn't it be?"_

Kate bit her lip. "I don't know. But, well, I was wondering if that offer of coming to visit was still standing. I'd really love to see you."

" _I'd love to see you too! I'm sure it is. You should probably talk to Dad, though."_

That was going to be the real trick. While she had kept in limited contact with Lily, she hadn't spoken to her ex-husband Henry since the two had come over for the Brigadier's funeral. He still felt as though she had completely betrayed him, and she couldn't convince him otherwise because he wasn't exactly wrong.

"Alright." Kate tried to keep her voice from sounding hesitant. "Can you hand the phone to him, then? We'll sort it all out."

" _Okay,"_ Lily replied, and added, with mild worry, " _Good luck."_

They both knew she might need it, and Kate appreciated the words more than Lily would have likely expected. She had for so long now wondered if her daughter even still cared.

"Thank you, darling," she said, the old endearment slipping off her tongue like it hadn't been twelve months since she had used it, "Hopefully I can see you soon."

" _Kate?"_  The new voice was not Lily's. It was the voice that had spoken wedding vows opposite hers, the voice that had told Lily stories when she was little. The voice that hadn't stopped yelling upon finding out the truth she had been hiding.

"Henry," she all but whispered.

" _Lily says you want to visit."_ He sounded cautious, as he always tended to, and a little stiff. But, thankfully, he didn't seem entirely hostile either, so that was something.

"Yes. You did offer initially, and I finally think I can make it work. I miss Lily something mad," Kate said honestly, realising just how much her heart ached to have her daughter back in her arms now that she was aware of how long it had been. "She does want to see me, you know."

" _I do know. I don't see why it shouldn't work. When did you have in mind?"_

Kate was glad he couldn't see the relieved smile starting to bloom on her face. "Well, as soon as possible, really." She tugged on a strand of her hair nervously. "And I mean that. If you said I could come tomorrow, I'd be there."

There was a pause, and when he spoke again, he almost sounded amused. Almost. " _That might be a little impractical, but anytime from this weekend would suit us fine."_

"This weekend," she said, nodding even though he couldn't see it, "Perfect. I can do that."

" _See you then. Call me once you're settled into your hotel and I can give you directions."_ He hung up, with that little subtle remark that told her politely that she wasn't welcome to stay with them in the house even though Kate knew for a fact that there was a spare room.

Still, that hardly mattered. She was going to get to see Lily. An excitable grin bloomed on her face and she had to resist the urge to spin around the room like a child.

* * *

"You're sure the date's right?"

Kate's question was met with a withering look that had the blonde regretting ever doubting the Time Lady's flying abilities.

"Sorry."

"You'll be perfectly on time. Early, actually. We have several hours until you need to be at their house."

"So we're in the city centre?"

"Yes. Come on, then, Stewart," the Rani said, striding out of the console room without another word only to get doused with rain. Kate laughed at the way she started and practically jumped back inside.

"This is the American Northwest," Kate told her, lifting an eyebrow, "It does rain a lot."

"Evidently," came the annoyed reply.

"Do you have an umbrella?"

"As if I would have something so mundane-"

"Well, we can't use anything more advanced, so it's an umbrella or nothing."

The Rani glared, and thought on it for a good ten seconds with a very sour expression before letting out a huff. "I might have one. Give me a minute." She disappeared down out of the console room and down the corridor. It was definitely longer than a minute before she returned, but she did eventually, holding a black umbrella in her hand.

As they stepped out the door, the Rani put the umbrella up, leaving Kate to step in closer towards her to be sure of escaping the reach of the rain pattering onto the pavement around them. None of the people of Portland walking past them had noticed two women with an umbrella emerge from out of nowhere from behind a stone pillar.

"So, you've got five hours until you said you'd be at their house," the Rani said, "I believe I was promised a museum?"

"Well, if we've got five hours...the cab ride should only take me twenty minutes, I think. Do you want me to look up museums on my phone?"

"The  _Oregon Museum of Science and Industry_  is just around the corner." When Kate looked at her with surprise, the Rani just smirked. "You're not the only one capable of using the internet, Stewart."

"Come on then," Kate said, shaking her head, and they began to walk, "How did you even get onto the internet? Did you use one of the UNIT computers?" She knew she couldn't have taken her phone, because Kate kept that on her at all times and had promised herself to not let the Rani into it for the sake of national security.

The Rani let out a snort. "Do you really assume that in my entire ship filled and made of highly advanced technology, there wasn't something that could connect to your antiquated system? I'd thought my acquaintance had made you more intelligent."

Kate couldn't think of a good enough retort for that, so she just kept her mouth shut.

They emerged from the museum a couple of hours later.

"So, are you happier now?" Kate asked the other woman.

"Marginally," the brunette said nonchalantly, "I'd hoped it would take longer to go through. You've still got awhile until your little family dinner. Why don't you come with me to one of the laboratories?"

Kate shook her head, almost laughing. "It's one thing to send you in under vaguely false pretenses just to satisfy your curiosity. It's another thing for  _me_ to be there. I'd have to come up with some terribly compelling reason for my presence."

The Rani grinned. "Is the  _delight_  of my company not enough?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "If you're going to flirt with me, at least have it make sense in the context of the conversation."

The Rani took half a step closer, and because it was still raining they were sharing the umbrella. The movement put mere inches between their faces. Kate eyed her mouth and caught herself wondering just how inappropriate it would be for them to start locking lips in the middle of the street.

Given how some Americans could get, it probably wasn't a good idea, but as per usual, Kate found herself not particularly caring what Americans thought about anything.

"As an alternative, there are  _other_ ways we could spend the next few hours," the Rani murmured, "The TARDIS is just around the corner."

"I think I might like those better," Kate said with a joking sort of seriousness.

A small, pleased smile tugged at the Rani's lips. But she didn't get the chance to lean in any closer, and neither did Kate.

"Mum?"

Kate whirled around to see her daughter and her ex-husband standing about five metres away.

"Lily?"

They were staring at her with great confusion, and she realised just how close she and the Rani were standing and how they had been looking at each other. She jerked backwards, only to end up in the rain, and tentatively stepped back under the cover of the umbrella while trying to keep her distance from her companion.

"You said your plane didn't get in until five," Henry said, frowning at her.

"Yes, well, it ran early," Kate replied, half in a state of panic, only to correct herself. "I mean, it was moved up."

"Who's this?" He asked. His dark eyes had moved to the Rani, whose body was rather rigid as she eyed him with a vague curiosity not dissimilar to the one he seemed to have regarding her.

"Doctor Rani Frey," the Time Lady answered, for the first time not hesitating in giving the false name.

"She's a colleague," Kate was quick to say, but she couldn't be sure how visible their unprofessional proximity had been from where they had been standing. It possibly wasn't a viable omission of the truth.

"A colleague," Henry repeated, not sounding sure if he believed her.

"I have business in the area. Transcontinental plane trips are tedious enough even with company but can be worse without it. It made sense for us to travel together," the Rani continued, lying with an ease that surprised Kate. She supposed the Rani tended to show her more alien self around Kate because she knew Kate generally wasn't too bothered by it. It was just easy to forget that the Rani  _did_ actually know how to pretend to be a human.

"Do you want to join us for dinner?" Lily asked.

Henry's head snapped to look at his daughter. "Lily-"

"No," the Rani answered shortly, "I have a prior appointment. I imagine Stewart can go with the two of you now as opposed to the later arranged time. I should be going."

"Yeah, of course," Lily said, finally being the one to close the gap between the two pairs of people so that Kate could duck under her umbrella instead and start to move back towards Henry.

Kate briefly turned around to look at the Rani, whose current expression was as unfathomable as stone. "I'll see you back at the, er, hotel. Later."

The Rani just nodded, turned on her heel, and walked away in the opposite direction. Kate stared after her for a second, but then it properly hit her that her daughter was finally standing right next to her after all these years. 

She hugged Lily tightly, surprising the teenager and making her laugh.

"I've missed you."

"I missed you too," Lily said, hugging her back, "I'm sorry I haven't skyped more. School here is just mental and I get so busy-"

"You don't have to tell me about being busy," Kate reminded her, smiling, "I completely understand." She kept one arm around Lily's shoulders even once they pulled away. She couldn't bring herself to let go of her completely. Also, she had forgotten just how much Lily resembled her. It was like looking at an old photograph of herself.

"Dad's making curry for dinner."

Kate looked to Henry, who just gave a tiny nod. "I'm looking forward to it. Sorry if my being here early is a problem."

"It's a not a problem, Mum," Lily assured her, smiling, "Why would it be?"

"I don't know," Kate answered mildly, still looking at Henry who hadn't sent a single smile her way since seeing her. She hadn't really expected anything else, but it was still disheartening somehow. A part of her had hoped he might have forgiven her at least a little in the time that had passed, but it didn't seem to be the case.

"The car's this way," he said quietly, nodding in the direction of a nearby street crossing.

Kate just nodded. As much as she wanted to focus on the feeling of her daughter in her arms again after so long, a part of her had flung itself back into the events of early 2011, remembering where it had all gone wrong.

" _You lied to me!"_

" _I couldn't tell you!"_

" _Yes, you could, and you should have, you should have_ years  _ago-"_

" _I wasn't allowed, Henry! Do you think my father ever told me? Before he absolutely had to? They're government secrets, the less you knew the better, for your own safety-"_

" _You have the nerve to talk about_ safety,  _after what just happened? If we'd known-"_

" _What difference would it have made?!"_

" _We could have taken precautions-"_

" _Like what?"_

" _I don't know, but we would have had time to figure it out! Instead, our daughter is in the hospital. She could have died, Kate, have you even processed that? As it is, the doctors said she'll probably have that scar on her stomach for the rest of her life. And it's your fault."_

Kate swallowed slowly, and held Lily even tighter to her side as they followed Henry across the road. This was her chance to make amends as best she could, and she wasn't going to mess it up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The full story of "The Incident" will be divulged over the next chapter or so, but I don't imagine it's too hard to work out the general gist of what happened.
> 
> I fully fleshed out Lily and Henry's characters over on Charahub when I first decided to incorporate them in the story, so I'm looking forward to getting to play with them properly in the next chapter (and possibly the one after, I'm likely going to need three chapters to do this idea justice).
> 
> Also, in case anyone cares, this is how I picture Lily and Henry (Jamie McDell and Stephen Dillane respectively):


	12. Family Matters: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A rather awkward "family" dinner followed by wine-augmented shenanigans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This little storyline was meant to be two chapters but it got long, so this is going to wrap up next chapter instead. Enjoy! 
> 
> Also the rating has gone up, even if I could probably have gotten away with it. The last scene just seemed to warrant it so, yeah. :P

The house was of a decent size, good design, and better decorated than Kate had expected. It was strange, being an outsider in the place her daughter now called home, but every time she got too close to being uncomfortable, Lily caught her eye and smile and Kate would feel her unease dissipate.

"Do you want to see my room?"

"Of course."

They went through the hall and up the stairs, coming into a spacious bedroom with a large window. Kate smiled at the Taylor Swift poster and fairy lights that decorated the walls, but didn't miss the squash and tennis racquets or the crammed bookshelf either.

There was one thing that did surprise her.

"You're playing guitar?"

Lily blinked. "Did I never say?" Kate shook her head. "Yeah, sorry, almost as soon as we moved over. Uncle Kyle bought me the guitar as a welcome present."

Kate remembered Kyle, vaguely, but had only met him a few times due to his living in the US. How had she forgotten that he was the whole reason Henry had picked Portland in the first place?

"Well, I think it's great," Kate said to her daughter honestly, smiling, "Maybe you can play me something later."

Lily grinned. "I've been working on this Ed Sheeran riff, I've almost got it, but my singing isn't great. We could ask Dad to sing, though." When Kate just lifted an eyebrow, Lily's grin only widened. "He's no Ed but you know he's pretty good, Mum. And he knows the songs even if he pretends not to."

"Yes, I remember," Kate murmured, though hadn't until that moment. Memories of drunk karaoke a few weeks before their wedding cropped up, and it was so strange that she could only shake her head to dismiss them.  _I was still so young, even if I didn't think I was._

A more pleasant memory was of Henry crooning songs to Lily when she had been a baby, and Kate smiled fractionally at the thought.

She chatted with Lily about school and her friends, and was relieved to hear that even though the American school system was harsh, Lily was doing okay and had a good group of people around her. Lily asked after Gordon, though more for Kate's perspective on how he was going than anything else because Lily skyped her half-brother every week.

Kate might have been crushed when Lily had been taken from her to another country, but knew it had been at least partially her own doing. Gordon had been devastated. Lily had been his whole world from the moment she had been born.

" _He's WHAT?!"_

" _He's taking her with him to live in America. Says she'll be safer there. Away from me."_

" _He can't just take her, she's your daughter too, she's my_ sister _, he can't take her to another country, she's got a say in this too-"_

" _Gordon...she wants to go."_

" _...what?"_

" _She was nearly killed in her own bedroom a month ago. She wakes up in hospital only to find out that the thing that attacked her was an alien pursuing her mother that had tracked the bio-signature to the house. Her mother that had been working for a secret government faction that protects Earth from aliens, and never told her or her father."_

" _You weren't_ allowed  _to tell! That attack wasn't your fault!"_

" _If it weren't for me, Lily would be unharmed. Which means that yes, it is. And it might kill me that she's leaving but Henry's right, she'll be safer away from me and UNIT."_

" _Is that what she said?"_

" _She's scared, Gordon. She's fourteen and she just found out aliens exist and that one nearly succeeded in killing her but was after me. And that I knew this huge thing that has changed the way she sees the whole world but never told her."_

There was a photo on Lily's desk, framed and standing proud. It was a photo Kate recognised well. Lily was four, all wispy golden hair and round face, just like Gordon at ten who was giving her a piggyback while Kate and Henry - the latter's arm around the former's shoulders - laughed from behind them. It was a perfect family picture.

To think where they all were now. Gordon hated his stepfather for taking away his sister, while Henry was indifferent towards him and still furious with Kate. Lily was the only one still beloved by all.

"What do you say about me to your friends?" Kate asked her daughter, eyeing the picture.

"I say that my mum works for the British government and helps a lot of people, and that I miss her a lot," Lily replied, smiling, "What else would I say?"

Unexpected emotion choked Kate up and constricted her voice a little. "I don't know." She hugged Lily to her for what had to be at least the tenth time, but she still received no complaints. "I've missed you so much too. You wouldn't believe the things I've been doing."

Lily gave her a funny smile. "Do I want to know?"

Kate hesitated. "I don't know. Do you?"

"Maybe don't tell anything that's really going to shake up my world any more. Some things I'd prefer not to know. But if you've got any funny smaller stories, that would be cool."

"Do you remember the year those cubes came?"

She didn't tell her about the Zygons or the Cybermen or the Master. Even her story about the cubes was tentative, more about the Doctor than the alien threat. Lily was delighted to hear about her grandfather's old friend, as she had heard stories about the eccentric man from him, but never known the alien context before.

But there were other stories, smaller incidents, and Kate's mention of how she now had two versions of her personal assistant running around - "never mind how" - got some wide eyes from Lily. It briefly occurred to Kate that with one of the Osgoods having been helping the Zygons settle in outside of Europe, she hadn't been around the London HQ, meaning that there was a good chance the Rani had no idea there were two of them. That would make for an interesting surprise some day soon.

A shout from downstairs told them that dinner was ready, and Kate realised how much time they must have spent just sitting on Lily's bed talking. They made their way back down to the dining room where three plates of steaming curry lay waiting for them.

The smell made Kate's mouth water and she remembered how much she had missed Henry's cooking. Her own life consisted of take out (albeit the high quality kind) due to staying late at the office or whatever strange protein came out of the food machine in the Rani's TARDIS.

Lily sat at the head of the table, leaving Kate and Henry no choice but to sit opposite each other, though the latter first stopped to grab two wine glasses and a bottle of Merlot. He brought them to the table even though all three places were already set with full glasses of water.

Henry set a glass down in front of Kate and filled it without even asking her if she wanted any. It was impossible for her to tell if it was him being rude or just that he knew her so well that he didn't have to ask to know that she'd be glad of it.

"Thank you," she said all the same, giving him a small smile that he did not return.

"Don't mention it," he replied.

"Toast?" Lily asked, lifting her water glass until they lifted their wine ones. "To family."

Kate and Henry echoed her sentiment, pointedly avoiding each other's gaze and keeping their focus on their daughter instead. Both of them took overly large gulps of the wine when it came to drinking for the sake of completing the toast.

"It really is so good to see you," Lily told her as they all got stuck into the food.

"Well, thank you for having me," Kate said, smiling at her but using her eyes to make it clear that she was talking to Henry, "I'm so sorry it took me this long. My job-"

"We know," Henry said shortly.

Even if it was founded in good reason, Henry's bitterness towards her occupation still stung. Kate swallowed and took another, smaller, gulp of wine. "How has yours been, Henry? Are Americans better or worse to deal with than us when they're ill?"

To her surprise, Henry's lips actually twitched. "Worse, of course. Thankfully, most of the ones I deal with are knocked out."

"Sociable as ever, I see," she couldn't help saying, but thankfully he didn't seem to take offense at the comment, and when Lily laughed at it he even smiled.

"No being mean to the introvert, Mum," their daughter said, "It's not his fault."

"Never said it was."

Lily's phone, which was next to her plate, pinged. Henry, without so much as blinking, picked it up and slid it across the table until it stopped near the edge of the other side.

"Dad!"

"You're never allowed your phone at the table, I've no idea why you think it would be different with your mother here," he said mildly, "You should be talking to  _her_ , not that boy."

"I  _am_ talking to her!"

Kate, who had ended up accidentally staring at Henry after his vague endorsement of her, finally picked up on the rest of the sentence. "Hold on, boy?" She asked, turning to Lily who had gone an appropriate shade of pink.

"Yeah, so?" The younger blonde muttered, shoveling more curry in her mouth.

Kate glanced at Henry and lifted an eyebrow. "Boyfriend?"

"Getting to look that way," he replied, sounding very much like he'd rather think of anything else, "At least he doesn't wear his trousers so low you can see his pants like most of his generation."

"You've met him  _once_ ," Lily said, glaring at him.

"But he's - he's nice?" Kate asked, as pleasantly as she could so as to keep the conversation light.

Lily gave her a smile. "Yeah. He is. But it's really nothing set in stone at the moment, so I'd rather we didn't...you know."

"I completely understand. You just have to remember that I last saw you when you were fifteen. Thinking about you and boys is just a bit to take in."  _Or whoever she happened to be interested in,_ Kate mentally corrected, after considering that given her current romantic life she really needed to discard a heteronormative viewpoint. 

"Yeah, well as it is, I'm on the rarer side of my peer group for taking this long to go anywhere near them," Lily said, "I  _am_ eighteen."

"And you'll never know how glad I am that you've not rushed into such things," Henry told her with a tiny smile, "For your sake as much as mine."

Lily chuckled. "Thanks, Dad." Then her expression turned sly. "So, Mum, what about you? Boyfriend?"

Kate and Henry simultaneously choked on their wine and the former only just managed to not let any of it get on her pale blouse. "Lily!"

"What?"

"Do you really think this is the best time to ask me something like that?" Kate couldn't help looking at Henry, who thankfully looked as uncomfortable as she felt at the thought of her sharing details of her new personal life.

"It doesn't have to be a big deal, you're adults who have been separated for like three and a half years," Lily said, rolling her eyes, "Dad's been on some dates, I bet you have too, it's fine."

Kate was all too aware of Henry's eyes - as potent as ever in their intensity - on her. "My job makes it incredibly difficult to have the time to meet people outside of it, Lily," she said, shaking her head and trying to act as casual as possible, "So to answer your question, no. I don't have a boyfriend."

Lily shrugged. "Fair enough. If it helps, Dad's not had much luck either."

"Lily," Henry muttered, glaring at her. It wasn't anger so much as annoyance, which Kate could tell from the embarrassed flush in his cheeks.

"Sorry." Lily went back to her food, with the look of someone who knew that they were daddy's little girl and had no worries at all about being in trouble.

"So, those metal men that were around a few weeks ago," Henry began after a brief silence, "Was that one of your gigs?" His voice was tentative, with a sort of forced calm. But there was also a hint of genuine curiosity.

"Um, yes, we were doing our best to neutralise the threat," she answered, frowning and taking great care with her words, "In the end our top operative and a couple of his associates were able to do so."

"Then what were  _you_ doing while they were doing that?"

Kate hesitated. "Well, I was a bit...unconscious...towards the end of it all, actually." When they gave her questioning looks, she coughed awkwardly. "The person behind it all had sort of...thrown me out of a plane."

"What?!"

While they both stared at her with wide eyes and slightly gaping mouths and no small amount of concern, she just took another large gulp of wine. And then took the bottle to pour herself some more.

"But it's fine, I was rescued, and here I am, safe and sound," she said quickly. When Henry continued to look at her with sheer disbelief, she rolled her eyes. "Look, you asked."

"You're in danger a lot, aren't you?" Lily asked quietly.

"Yes," Kate answered truthfully, "But I have a lot of protection when I need it. And I'm perfectly capable of handling myself. I'm my father's daughter."

Lily smiled at the mention of her grandfather. "I miss him."

"Yeah, me too."

A flash of memory went through Kate's mind. Falling so quickly that she couldn't even scream, being sure she was about to die, before she hit something solid and was flying through the sky of a cyberman. She could still remember how her heart had stopped when the metallic voice had called her Tiger.

She bit her lip and decided to get back to eating her food for a while, but she could feel Lily and Henry's eyes on her before they started making conversation of their own. She was content to just listen for a while.

Henry inquired about Lily's homework, more specific questions that Kate could never have known to ask. But in the midst of answering them, Lily made sure to stop and describe each teacher and her opinions of them for Kate's benefit, making sure she was included.

Kate was hit with a very sudden wave of extra affection for her daughter, overwhelming enough that she nearly teared up. She had missed her  _so_ much, and had missed some of her most formative years, the transformation from girl to young woman…

"Mum?"

Kate snapped from her thoughts. "Yes, darling?"

"You were staring at me funny," Lily said, looking worried.

"Sorry, Lily," she said, giving her a small smile, "I was just thinking about how much I've missed you. I really am sorry, for everything."

"It's okay, Mum. Really." Lily grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. "I've really missed you too, and if school hadn't kept me so busy I'd have been in contact way more."

"Yes, isn't it something absurd like six hours a night?"

Lily had a face. "Something like that. It's ridiculous, but I don't know what I expected from this mental country."

They had a good time slagging America off for the next half an hour or so while they finished their food, and then came dessert in the form of apple pie. That sparked a conversation about America's lamentable lack of meat pies, which was a true tragedy in the eyes of both Lily and Henry who had shared the favourite dish of steak pie and chips before leaving England.

"Alright, Lily, off to bed, you've got tennis in the morning," Henry eventually said once the dishes were done.

"Oh, Mum, will you come? You can meet my best friend Chelsea, she's my partner for doubles!" Lily said excitedly.

"I'd love to," Kate told her, smiling, and Lily beamed before giving them both hugs goodnight (Henry got a kiss on the cheek as well, which Kate did her best not to be jealous of) and running off to her bedroom.

"Don't be up late texting that boy!" Henry called after her, but got no answer.

"Chelsea," Kate repeated once she was gone, frowning, "What a horrifically American name." For a person, obviously. It was a perfectly adequate place name.

"I know," Henry said, chuckling, "I thought exactly the same when I first heard about the girl. But she's a good kid, and her and Lily are thick as thieves."

"I'm glad to hear it."

There was a long pause.

"I'll call you a taxi."

Henry grabbed the landline and made the quick call. Then he fetched their wine glasses and refilled both of them. Kate took hers with a grateful nod, her other hand on the kitchen counter. He ended up mirroring her from where he stood a few feet away.

"It means a lot to her that you're here," he said, looking at her intently, "So you'd better be intending to keep this contact up. She'll be crushed otherwise."

"Of course I will," Kate said, surprised, "It's been killing me, not seeing her. My job might have been a distraction, but it doesn't replace my  _daughter_."

"Good. That being said, if your coming back into her life in any way puts her in danger from any of your lot-"

"My lot?" Kate echoed, frowning at him. "They're not  _my lot_ , I work for the people that keep them at bay, Henry, you know that!"

"Aliens, then," he corrected, seeming reluctant to say the word, "If any monsters from other worlds get near her, because of you, then this is finished."

"Henry-"

"No, I mean it." It was obvious he did. His dark eyes were hard, almost all the warmth in them having left the room when Lily had. "So you be careful, Kate. I'll put her safety first, like I always have."

"You didn't have to move to a different  _country_ ," Kate snapped, her hurt shifting to the anger she had never truly expressed to him, "If you wanted her out of the way of things, some quiet English town would've done the trick, you didn't have to take her away from me, away from  _Gordon-_ "

"Gordon's a grown man who had already gone off to university-"

"He was her best friend, Henry!" She said, horrified. "I know you might not have cared about him the way you cared about Lily, not even close, but I forgave you for that. And up until three years ago, so did he."

"I won't apologise for putting Lily first," Henry said, his expression like stone, "Everything I do is for her, since the moment she was born. And it always will be. And I will  _never_ apologise for that."

For a second Kate just stared at him, half of her wanting to be furious. But then her shoulders dropped. "No," she said quietly, holding his gaze, "And despite everything, I wouldn't want you to."

Something in him relaxed. "Good."

There was a silence. It was somehow, strangely, almost comfortable.

"It's good to see you as well, you know," Kate finally said.

He gave her a tight smile. "You too. You look good."

She smiled back and took him in properly for the first time. He'd already gone grey before their divorce, but his receding hairline hadn't crept back any further. He was still quite handsome, especially with a day's worth of light stubble around his chin.

"You too. So, no serious girlfriends around, then?"

It was his eyes, those dark and intense eyes, that had drawn her to him in the first place. They held hers effortlessly even after all this time.

"No. And you really don't have a new man?"

Kate was struck by a vivid memory flash of cool lips kissing her skin and leaving smears of crimson lipstick over her ribs and stomach.

She pushed it away as quickly as possible; partly so that her face gave nothing away and partly because she did actually want to keep her focus on Henry. Henry, who she had once stood with in a church and vowed to be with forever. Henry, whose love for her she had never doubted, not even when it had all fallen apart. (Unlike a certain other person she was refusing to think about.)

"No," she said, telling herself that technically she wasn't lying.

"I missed you." He put the wine glass down without looking away from her. "I've hated myself for it, but I've missed you."

"I missed you too," she breathed, stepping closer and knowing her eyes had to be wide with surprise because he had always been so  _furious_ with her that she had never expected this from him. "All the times I wished I could go back and tell her you earlier, to fix it...and then I met a man with a time machine and knew even then I couldn't…"

"A time machine?" He frowned at her.

"Long story," she said softly, "And not one that matters. What's done is done."

"Yes, it is," he murmured, and for the first time Kate realised how close they were standing and wondered if it had been entirely her doing. Her heart started pounding in her chest as old feelings popped up unbidden, memories of kisses and embraces and whispered affections that left her mouth dry.

It was obvious just by looking into his eyes that he was thinking along the same lines. His gaze dropped to her mouth and she subconsciously bit her lip while eyeing his. They both started to lean in, but before the last couple of inches between them closed, the Rani's face sprung up in Kate's mind and the blonde jerked backwards.

Thankfully, it appeared that Henry had done the same. 

"We've both had too much wine," Kate said awkwardly. It didn't stop her from sculling the rest of the glass which was still in her hand.

"Agreed." Henry's mouth was in a tight line. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't still feel something for you, Kate. But  _you_ lied to me for years and that's the one thing I can never forgive."

"I know," she replied, a lump in her throat, "And speaking with honesty now, this isn't what I want anymore. My life is good how it is. Complicated, maybe, but good."

"...I'm glad."

A horn honked from outside.

"Be back here at 8:30 tomorrow and you can come to the tennis with us," Henry suggested cordially, grabbing her jacket off the back of a dining chair and handing it to her.

"Alright, I'll see you then," Kate said, and went to the front door before pausing. "Thank you. For letting me come."

He just nodded in reply, and she stepped out into the cold December air, wishing she'd been wearing a warmer coat. The taxi ride was tedious, but a check of her phone (after setting herself an alarm for the next morning while she remembered) revealed no major catastrophes back in London. Just a few minor incidents that Osgood was keeping her informed about.

_**Osgood 1:** _ _Guess what?_

_**Kate:** _ _Do I want to know?_

_**Osgood 1:** _ _My sister's back!_

A picture came through of the two Osgoods, a selfie of them grinning at the camera, their faces squashed together in their excitement. It made Kate smile, especially after everything that had happened towards the end of her visit to Henry and Lily's home.

The Osgood who had been with her had been quietly pining for her sister's return ever since she had left to help cover the transitioning of the Zygon treaty. Kate had assumed that meant she was the Zygon, but before her departure the two of them had given her so many reasons why the human one might also want to go that it became obvious she was never going to get a straight answer out of them.

Kate still had no idea how she felt about that.

_**Kate:** _ _Happy to hear it. Tell her I'm looking forward to seeing her and having her back. And hearing her report on the Zygon/Human relations, as well as her reason for keeping only the most minimal contact for the last year._

_\---_

_**Osgood 2:** _ _I told them I was a Zygon. Couldn't be seen contacting UNIT all the time, they might have thought my priorities were in the wrong place._

_**Kate:** _ _And are you?_

_**Osgood 2:** _ _Now, that would be telling._

Kate let out a groan of frustration and decided to not bother answering given that the taxi had brought her back to the middle of the city, just around the corner from where the Rani's TARDIS was parked.

She paid the driver and stepped out onto the street, taking a moment to appreciate that she had caught a fortunate lull in the city's infamous near constant rain. When she reached the disguised stone pillar, she found the keyhole and let herself in with the key the Rani had given her a few days after the whole Missy and plane fiasco.

The Rani wasn't in the console room, so Kate continued on through to the corridors, figuring the lab was a good place to start. Now that she was vertical again, she could feel the mild effect of the wine she had consumed that evening and wished she'd eaten more of the curry than she had.

Of all the places she expected to find the Time Lady, the library wasn't one of them. But sure enough, the brunette was there, reclining on a lounge chair with a book in her lap covered in symbols and lettering Kate could never hope to read even in her dreams.

"Hey," Kate said, making the Rani look up from her selected text.

"How was it?"

"Could have been worse. The Lily parts were good."

Kate came to sit next to her, and all that played through her mind was how close she had gotten to Henry in the kitchen, how she had almost done something so obscenely wrong. And then, likely thanks to the wine, it came out.

"I nearly kissed him," she blurted.

The Rani's eyebrow went up, but it was impossible to know what she was thinking as her grey eyes regarded Kate. "I see."

"But it was just the wine, and because I hadn't seen him in so long," Kate continued, half knowing it was the wine making her ramble but not being aware enough to stop it. Her hand came to rest on the other woman's arm. "And I didn't because I honestly don't have any interest in kissing anyone who isn't you."

The Time Lady narrowed her eyes as she looked Kate dead in the eye. "You're vaguely intoxicated, aren't you?"

"As I say, wine," Kate murmured, "Now, are you cross with me or can I kiss you?"

The Rani set the book aside and turned her body to face Kate's more directly, an eyebrow cocked in silent invitation. That was all Kate needed. She slid a hand behind the alien's neck and the other on her face and pulled her in for a firm kiss. The Rani's hands found her waist and yanked her closer, her reciprocation of the kiss quickly becoming what Kate could only consider possessive.

The Rani. Jealous. Even if only a little. Now that was a new one.

Kate's jacket came off. The Rani's silvery shirt was next, with Kate's hands eagerly undoing the buttons while the owner of the shirt was busy grazing her earlobe with her teeth and sending shivers through her body.

"They asked if I had a boyfriend," Kate said as she threw the piece of clothing to the ground, "Part of me wanted to laugh."

"If only they knew," the Rani replied, smirking and leaning back so that Kate could discard her boots and slip off her own stilettos. Once that was done, she pulled the blonde on top of her and focused on getting rid of the rest of their clothing.

Kate's insistent kisses slowed her progress.

"You're certainly interesting with a bit of alcohol in your system," the brunette remarked, managing to get Kate's shirt off her despite her kissing along her jaw and blocking her view quite well.

"What can I say, it really gets the stick out of my arse that I tend to need up there for day to day UNIT bullshit."

The Rani actually laughed at that. "Your human cussing never fails to amuse me."

Kate grinned at her smugly while sliding the Rani's trousers down her legs. "Well then...how does this sound?" She kissed her way up the bare torso before her, eventually bringing her lips to rest at the Rani's ear. At the same time, her fingers slid down between the brunette's thighs, coaxing a moan from her. "I fuck you hard enough that your last regeneration feels it."

The Rani grinned, her eyes dark and amused. "Go on then." She knotted a hand in Kate's hair and brought her lips back to hers, kissing her with new urgency.

Kate didn't think about Henry or Lily for several hours after that.


	13. Family Matters: Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rani (after a lot of bribery) attends a family dinner. Things go about as well as to be expected.

Kate woke up alone and naked on the couch. The Rani's absence was commonplace and didn't bother her - on the contrary, the blanket draped over her spoke of a quiet consideration on the Time Lady's part.

The human yawned, and draped the blanket around herself so that she could drop to the floor and dig the phone out of her coat to turn off the blaring alarm. Then she wandered to the wardrobe where she kept a small inventory of clothes, and had to consider that a tennis match warranted more casual attire than her usual.

Although...tennis in December?

"Must be indoor," she muttered, "I _hope_ it's indoor."

After pulling on some jeans and a blouse and grabbing another coat, she headed for the console room, where the Rani was checking something on the scanner.

"I'm not sure when I'll be back," Kate told her.

"No rush. I'll be around. Or on Saturn."

"Saturn?"

"I haven't decided yet."

Kate shook her head, wished she didn't find that amusing, and decided that the less she knew the better. Without another word, she left the TARDIS and went about hailing a cab to get back to Henry and Lily's house.

* * *

When she came through the front door, Lily had a warm jacket on over her tennis gear and was wolfing down a bowl of cereal with all the finesse of a labrador. Henry was watching with a mix of disapproval and fondness.

"So, this might be a stupid question, but it is _indoor_ tennis, right?" Kate asked them.

Lily laughed. "Yes, Mum."

"Thank god for that."

The car ride wasn't as awkward as it could have been because Lily rode in the back with Kate, giving her a history of the season and telling her how she and Chelsea had been _so_ close to winning the last match when the latter had sneezed horrifically at a vital moment. It had apparently been very annoying at the time but hilarious to recall the next day when the loss of the match didn't bother them as much.

Once inside the sports center, Lily tugged Kate by the hand over to a Chinese girl her age who had her hair pulled back into a high ponytail identical to Lily's.

"Mum, this is Chelsea," she said, beaming, "Chelsea, this is my mum."

"Oh my god," Chelsea breathed, eyes wide, "You didn't say she was coming over! It's really great to meet you, Ms Stewart."

As Kate shook the hand offered to her, she could only be relieved that she hadn't been called 'Mrs Pearce'. Even the 'Ms' was strange after years of _Director_ and _Brigadier_ Stewart, but there was something almost pleasant about the mundanity of it all. It wasn't something she got to experience much these days.

"It's nice to meet you too, Chelsea," she told the girl whose accent was so American it had almost made Kate wince, "And I'm excited to see the two of you play. I can't remember the last sports game I even attended."

"Probably something really British like cricket, right?" Chelsea asked, grinning.

"Yes, it might have been, actually. But I was there for work reasons."

"What kind of work reasons?"

Kate just coughed and ignored Lily's lifted eyebrow. "Oh, nothing you'd find especially interesting. And I didn't even get to see the whole game."

Of course, there was no way that she could add that she'd been there because the pitch had been blown up by a rogue Sontaran. Thankfully, that was when Henry and two people that Kate assumed were Chelsea's parents approached them.

After introductions, it was time for the girls to warm up, so the parents were left on the sidelines.

"So, what do you do, Kate?" Chelsea's mother asked her, not noticing how Henry immediately stiffened.

"I work for the British government," Kate said, as that was her approved cover story. She was quick to add, "And there's so much capacity for things to do wrong on a daily basis that it became impossible to spare a trip over here when the flights take so long."

"But you're here now."

"Well, I had to put my foot down eventually. I wasn't going to go any longer without seeing my daughter, idiot civil servants be damned."

Chelsea's parents nodded, seeming to approve, and Kate was surprised to realise that she cared what they thought of her, even though it was ridiculous. But the idea of being seen as an abstract and absent parent figure of a girl they probably saw a lot more than she did...she couldn't stand it. She wanted these people to know how much she cared about Lily even if she wasn't usually around to show it.

The match started not long after that, and Kate watched with awe as her daughter moved with an athletic grace she had never seen before. She supposed Lily had always been quick on her feet, but this was something else altogether. Chelsea was even more talented and the two of them functioned as an ideal unit, quickly dominating the set.

"She's amazing," Kate said to Henry as the girls won the set.

"She's put a lot of work into it," he replied, nodding, "Took it up almost the moment we arrived. To be honest, I think she did it as a way of taking her mind off how much she missed you and Gordon."

She didn't quite know how to respond to that. But it was kind of him to say so, and that didn't go unappreciated on her part.

* * *

Lily and Chelsea won the match, and when Lily came off the court grinning and sweating like mad, Kate hugged her tightly.

"Darling, you were wonderful," she said, every bit the proud mother who couldn't stop beaming, but luckily Lily was in similar spirits.

"I'm so glad you got to see this match, it was one of our best," her daughter said happily, "I need to chat to Chelsea for a second, but then I'll be right back and we can head home and have lunch after I've had a shower."

"That sounds great," Kate told her.

On their way out, Chelsea and her parents expressed again how glad they were to have met Kate, and they all headed to the car in high spirits. Lily rode with Kate in the back again.

"Sorry if I smell," the teenager said sheepishly.

"Lily, I work with aliens, you are far from the smelliest thing I've had to be in close proximity to," Kate assured her, and to her dismay Henry frowned at her through the rear mirror.

"Kate, I told you-" He tried to say angrily, but Lily cut him off.

"Dad, it's fine. It's her job, and it keeps us all safe, more than we know. We don't have to like it but we shouldn't act like it's something she should be ashamed of, that's super shitty to her."

"She's also still here," Kate said with annoyance, but softened as she looked at Lily, "Thank you. I know it's...difficult."

"It's fine," Lily said again, and it was convincing but for the tiny clenching of her jaw as she looked out of the window.

Kate tried to ignore the heaviness in her stomach, but the rest of the car ride was tense and silent.

* * *

Thankfully, a change of scenery was all they needed to be able to forget the conversation in the car, and when Lily went to have a shower Henry fetched Kate a drink of fruit juice.

"How's Gordon?" He asked her. She knew it was more out of politeness than anything, but it was still a nice gesture.

"He's doing well, he's engaged. I've only met her once but she's lovely."

"Oh," Henry said, eyebrows up, "Good for him. Maybe Lily could go over for the wedding. As much as I hate to admit it, she's old enough to fly on her own and I'd win dad points for letting her."

"Gordon would love that," Kate said, not bothering to hide her delight. The idea of having both her children with her at the same time seemed almost too good to be true. It was sad that it should be such a novelty, but such was her life these days. "How's Kyle?"

"His boys are five and seven and Lily gets the delightful job of babysitting them." There was surprising fondness in Henry's eyes as he spoke. "They're shifty little buggers but they adore her so it all tends to work out."

"Does she like kids?"

"She likes her nephews, I don't think she's fussed on any others."

"Good, I don't need her getting any ideas too soon," Kate said. While she didn't regret having Gordon, being a young mother wasn't something she wished on her daughter. "She...she knows about everything she might need to, doesn't she? If she's going to be seeing boys?"

It wasn't something she had considered until now, or particularly wanted to think about, but she supposed Lily really was old enough.

Henry made a face. "I had that talk with her two years ago."

Something about his pained expression made Kate laugh. "Dear god, how did that go?"

"It was indescribably awkward for us both, at least at first, but by the end it was alright," he said, shrugging, "It was good for us, I think."

For all her pining for the moments of her daughter's life she had missed, Kate was incredibly glad she hadn't had to have that conversation. Lily was her baby, and going through all that with Gordon had been bad enough.

Henry started making a chicken caesar salad for lunch, and he was almost done when Lily, now freshly washed, came down the stairs.

"So, how long are you actually staying, Mum?" She asked Kate.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Kate admitted. "When something comes up back home I'll have to leave, but I'd like to stay for at least a few more days if I can."

"What did you book with your hotel?" Henry asked.

"Oh, two nights but that there was a chance I'd want a few more," she lied with ease.

"What about that colleague of yours? Are you planning on travelling back together?"

"Yes, we are, but she's flexible." She didn't realise that it was an innuendo until it was out of her mouth, but naturally neither Lily nor Henry seemed to notice. Her blush went unseen and she was able to turn away and smirk to herself.

Thankfully, lunch was then served.

"Can we play Monopoly after this?" Lily asked as they sat down to eat, and Kate and Henry shared less than thrilled looks. "Oh come on, I know it takes ages, but we have the whole afternoon. We used to do it all the time. Please?"

It took the rest of the meal for her to convince them, but in the end neither of them could deny her something she wanted. As Henry took the dishes to the kitchen, Lily and Kate helped clear the table to make room for a game board.

"Where's your bathroom, Lily?" Kate asked, and set off once given directions.

When she came back, Lily had an odd look on her face, one that had Kate a little concerned as she grabbed her phone from where she had left it on the edge of the table and slipped it back into her pocket.

"Everything alright?"

"Yeah," Lily said distractedly, "Um, come on, Monopoly's in the cupboard upstairs by my bedroom, I think. I'll show you."

Kate didn't know why she had to be shown a cupboard, but followed without question regardless. Once they were up on the landing, Lily stood with her hand frozen on the cupboard door handle.

"You got a text while you were in the bathroom," she said, her voice and face unfathomable, "I didn't mean to read it but I did."

Panic seizing her, Kate grabbed the phone from her pocket and read her newest message. It was from one of the Osgoods, the one that had been with her in London the whole time.

 **Osgood 1:** _So my sister only half believes me about you having a bitchy girlfriend, but either way wants to get her a thank you present for saving my life and won't listen when I tell her it's a bad idea_

"Shit," Kate muttered, her hand coming to cover her face, "I'm sorry, Lily, I just didn't know how to-"

"You don't have to apologise," Lily said, frowning at her, "I mean, I guess you technically didn't lie. You don't have a _boy_ friend. But if the reason you're keeping quiet is because the person you're dating is a woman, you don't need to, it's not a big deal."

"So, you don't have a problem with it?" Kate asked, more surprised than perhaps she ought to have been.

Lily shook her head and smiled. "Mum, Chelsea is a lesbian. Like, the biggest lesbian you'll ever meet. She's hopelessly, hilariously gay. So if you're dating a woman, I'm the last person who is going to be against that."

"Oh." Kate smiled at her daughter, albeit uncertainly. "Well, thank you, Lily, that means a lot."

"It's the one we met yesterday, isn't it? Your 'colleague', Rani something." The look Lily had on her face was far too cheeky. "It would explain a lot about why she came with you. Not to mention, if she's supposedly 'bitchy', she _was_ a bit blunt."

"I don't know if bitchy is the right word."

"I'm sure it's not, you have better taste than that, I hope," Lily said, laughing, "But you should invite her over for dinner so I can meet her properly."

The Rani. Dinner. With Lily. And Henry.

It was all Kate could do to not yell _no_ at the top of her voice from sheer reflex. As it was, her previous panic had returned with a doubled intensity.

"I'd really rather not," she said instead, gripping her phone a little too hard.

"Oh, come on, please?"

"No."

"We don't have to tell Dad she's your girlfriend if you don't want, he can just keep thinking she's your co-worker-"

"Lily, it's more complicated than that," Kate interrupted, silencing her with a firm look, "Things with her in general are complicated, in ways I can't explain. While a part of me wouldn't mind you meeting her, I certainly don't want her meeting your father, and she'd never agree to coming here in the first place."

"Why not?"

"Because...because she doesn't do domestics. That's the best way I can put it. Or as Osgood put it, yes, sometimes she is very far from a pleasant person and I don't want you or your father exposed to that."

"If she's unpleasant, why are you dating her?"

"I'm not!" Kate snapped, before wincing. "I mean, I don't know what we are. Osgood labels it, not us. Like I said, it's complicated, and she can be unpleasant but generally not to me. But she doesn't like anyone _but_ me, which is why I don't want her coming here and why she wouldn't _want_ to come."

"Osgood's your assistant, right? Did Rani really save her life?"

Kate frowned. "Well, yes, she did, but that doesn't - I said _no_ , Lily, and you need to deal with it. I'm not inviting her, and she's not coming."

Lily's shoulders sank and the teenager's disappointment made Kate feel instantly guilty. "Okay. I'm sorry. I won't mention it to Dad."

"Thank you. I'm sorry too. Things with her are just tricky. Even after, god what has it been, nine months or so. I'm still finding my footing."

"Yeah, I get it," Lily said, sighing as she grabbed the Monopoly box from the cupboard and headed for the stairs, "Come on, he'll be wondering why we're taking so long."

They went back down and got the game board set up. Henry was the dog, Lily was the hat, and Kate took the shoe. It had been years since Kate had played, not since before The Incident, but luckily it wasn't a game one forgot how to play.

"What's that colleague of yours up to while you're here with us?" Henry asked a small while into the game, and Kate stiffened while Lily kept her face neutral.

"She's visiting some local labs, checking in on their biochemistry departments or something of the sort. I don't know all the details," Kate said, trying to sound casual.

"So she's not got family or friends in town?"

"No."

"Does that mean she would have been eating alone last night?"

"Er, yes, I suppose."

"Oh." Henry frowned, and stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You should...invite her over for dinner. Here. It's not good form to leave your co-workers on their own like that. Besides, I'd be interested to see what sort of people you have working for you."

"I thought you hated any mention of my work."

"Well, as Lily said, I suppose it keeps us all safe, more than we know. So I'm curious. Go on, invite her over, it's fine, I want you to."

"I really don't think that's a good idea-" Kate tried to say, shooting Lily a pleading look for help.

"No, Mum, you should," Lily told her, and Kate cursed under her breath, "Oh come on, please, I _really_ want to meet her." When her father gave her a curious look, she added, "Because like Dad said, we don't know anyone who works with you, we want to see what they're like."

"She prefers being on her own, Henry-"

" _I_ prefer being on my own too, it doesn't mean I like to be alone in a strange city when there's someone I know nearby," he said, shaking his head, "Invite her. I'm going to do roast lamb."

"She's a vegetarian." Kate knew she was grasping at straws now and sure enough Henry just lifted an eyebrow at her.

"I'll put in more potatoes," he said flatly. "Call her. Honestly, I'm not sure I understand the problem here, Kate."

Kate floundered, knowing that there were more excuses she could make that would probably work but totally unable to think of them in that moment. "I-" She sighed. "Fine. But she's going to say no, so this whole thing is pointless anyway."

"She doesn't need to worry about bothering us."

"That's not what I-"

"Tell her that we want to hear embarrassing work stories about you," Lily said, "Please try and convince her to come, Mum. _Please_."

There was something about the earnest look on her face that made Kate's heart pang as she got out her phone and got up to leave the room. Despite all her arguments against it happening, Kate realised that part of her _did_ want the Rani to meet Lily. It could be disastrous, but Lily and Henry were being so insistent…

She went up the stairs to make the call on the landing.

" _What is it?"_

"They want you to come over for dinner," Kate said slowly, wincing at how human it sounded and how much the Rani was going to hate it.

Sure enough, there was a long silence on the other end of the line. _"Why? Did you tell them about me?"_

"Not as such, Henry all but commanded me to invite over my 'co-worker' because he doesn't like the idea of you having to eat all alone in a strange city."

" _How touching."_ The Rani's voice was flat and disinterested. _"Pass on whatever social niceties are required for me to decline."_

That was Kate's window. To just agree and go back to everything being simple. But suddenly a part of her wasn't so sure. Having the Rani come over would be insanity and was likely to backfire badly. But whether she was ever going to admit it or not, Kate had come to care about the Rani in _some_ way and wanted her to meet her daughter.

"That's what I expected you'd say," Kate said, "But the thing is, Osgood sent me a text that mentioned 'my girlfriend' and Lily saw it, so she sort of knows about you and wants to meet you properly. I did try to tell her it wasn't a good idea, but...I don't know, I suppose I really _would_ like you to meet."

" _Is this you_ actually _asking me to come, not just on the behalf of your ex-husband?"_

"Yes. No." Kate rubbed her temples tiredly. "I don't know."

" _Give me a straight answer, Stewart, or I'm hanging up,"_ the Rani said with annoyance.

"...yes."

" _Well, that's unfortunate. My answer is still no."_

"Please," Kate blurted, and an idea occurred to her, "Look, we could let our relationship slip over dinner and watch Henry probably turn some truly hilarious colour." Ten seconds ago the idea of Henry finding out about the Rani had been a horrific worst case scenario, but now she realised that if she allowed it to be, it could actually be _funny_. How had that not occurred to her before now?

There was another pause on the Rani's end. _"Why would he do that?"_

"Because you're a woman and my century is still getting a grip on that sort of thing. Come on, I know you were jealous last night when I told you that I nearly kissed him - don't try to deny it - but the truth is that he had as much part in that as I did. You could make _him_ jealous."

" _...do you really think I'm so petty?"_

"Yes."

Very faint grumbling could be heard on the other end. _"If, in an extremely hypothetical scenario, I were to agree to this, how long would I have to be there?"_

"You could probably get away after an hour and a half. Two hours at the most."

" _And you're giving me permission to taunt your ex-husband_?"

"Well, yes. I don't want to make him actually angry, but as long as he doesn't know that you're an alien we should be alright to have a bit of fun with it."

" _So I would have to pretend to be human in this scenario. Then my answer is again no."_

"Rani, please-"

" _I will not submit myself to some mindlessly mundane human situation like the one you are suggesting,"_ the Rani snapped, _"And frankly I'm astounded that you would even ask. I thought you knew me better than that."_

"I do," Kate insisted, "I _do_ , and I _know_ how much I'm asking of you. But it would mean a lot to me, and I promise to make it up to you in whatever way I can that doesn't involve giving you this entire planet for you to perform experiments on."

" _...I want access to fresh human corpses for some of my experiments."_

Kate made a face. "Fine."

" _And I want to be able to bring in a personal assistant from a different planet that will actually be competent, provided they can disguise themselves as human."_

"Fine."

" _And I want to take you to space."_

Kate swallowed. The Rani had asked before, spinning tall tales of sights that were far more impressive than the London skyline, but Kate had always declined. As much as the idea of other planets might be enticing, she belonged on Earth and that would never change. But just one trip surely couldn't hurt under these circumstances?

"Okay," she said softly.

" _...alright then. When do I need to be there? I can trace the call to get the spatial coordinates."_

"Uh, hang on-" Kate turned her head away from the mobile phone to call down the stairs. "Henry, what time will dinner be ready?"

"About five hours!"

Kate put the phone back to her ear. "About five hours from now. Where are you at the moment?"

" _Saturn."_

"Saturn?!"

" _I did tell you that."_

"I wasn't sure whether you were joking or not. Will you get the timing right if you're currently on a different planet?"

" _Of course I can, Stewart, unlike the Doctor I actually_ passed _my flying exam_."

"Okay, well, I'll see you later then. If you're bringing the TARDIS here, make sure to park a bit down the street so Henry doesn't look out the window and think he's magically gotten a new lawn ornament or garden hedge."

The Rani hung up without replying. Kate brought her phone down so that she could stare at it, and wondered if she had just done something incredibly stupid. Then the thought of Henry finding out she was 'dating' a woman and that woman being the Rani came back to her and she started grinning to herself.

It was probably going to be more than a bit awkward, but Henry's face was going to be worth it.

She went back downstairs and sat at her spot at the Monopoly board once again, aware of Kate and Henry's expectant looks.

"So?" Henry asked.

"It took a lot of convincing, but she's coming," Kate said, "But for the record, you might come to regret ever offering. She's not very nice."

"She can't be that bad if you decided to fly over with her."

Kate didn't have an answer for Henry's statement, and she just tried to ignore Lily's large grin and get her head back into the Monopoly game.

"Speaking of flying over, your father and I were thinking that you could come to England for Gordon's wedding," she said to her daughter in a blatant change of the subject. Thankfully, it worked.

"Wait, seriously? You'd let me?"

"It's your brother's wedding, you should be there," Henry said, giving her a small smile, "And as much as I hate to admit it, you're old enough to fly over on your own."

"You guys are the best," Lily told them, beaming, "Thanks so much! Have they set a date yet?"

"I don't think so, but I'll let you know as soon as they do," Kate said, smiling back, "We'll make it a surprise for Gordon, because he doesn't think you'd be able to come."

"I love this plan."

* * *

Nearly five hours later, the roast lamb and vegetables in the oven were almost done, and Kate was feeling a bit more relaxed with a glass of wine in her hand. OF course, that ease disappeared the second there was a knock at the door.

"That'll be her," she said, gulping down another mouthful of wine before getting up from her chair.

"What's her name again?"

"Rani Frey," Kate answered, after a second of hesitation, "But just Rani is fine."

With that, she hurried to the door and opened it to reveal the Rani standing there in a dark coat and her usual heeled boots. Her lips were their usual dark crimson, but her hair was loose and being swept around her face by the wind.

"Stewart," she greeted, with a sour expression.

"Kate would be better, here," Kate said as she ushered her in out of the bad weather. Before bringing her out of the small entrance hall and into the dining and kitchen space, she put a hand on her arm. "Thank you. I really do owe you one."

"You can make it up to me later," the Rani replied, in a low tone of voice that couldn't be mistaken for its intent. "In addition to everything else promised." Kate smirked and they made their way through to where Lily and Henry were finishing setting up the table with the cutlery and food.

"This is Doctor Rani Frey," Kate told them, "Rani, this is my daughter Lily and my ex-husband Henry Pearce."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Henry said politely, coming around the table to shake her hand. Despite her initial hesitation, she allowed the gesture and looked like she was gripping his hand just a little too hard.

"Thank you for your invitation," she said stiffly, and Kate wondered if it was only obvious to her how much the Rani sounded like she was choking on her words.

Lily sat at the head of the table while her parents took the seats nearest to her, and the Rani sat on the other side of Kate.

"So you're a scientist?" Lily asked the Rani while Henry cut the lamb.

"Biochemist," the Rani replied.

"That's how you met Mum, right? Because she's the head of the science part of UNIT, isn't she?"

"Yes."

"Unfortunately, we can't talk too much about our work," Kate interrupted, "As I'm sure you and your father know. It's probably either all too dull or too alien to interest you anyway. Let's just say that Rani is part of our experimental research branch and leave it at that."

"I suppose I can't ask what research that might be," Henry said, as he poured the three adults some wine, or in the case of Kate, refilled her nearly empty glass.

"No, but then it's not likely that you would understand it anyway," the Rani remarked.

Henry frowned at her. "I'm no stranger to science, Doctor Frey, I'm a cardiologist."

"How nice for you," she drawled, sipping her wine.

"Behave," Kate hissed to her.

"No," came the equally quiet reply, "That wasn't part of the agreement." The Time Lady turned her gaze back to Henry. "And just Rani is perfectly adequate. I don't need a title or formality to know that I'm the most intelligent person at this table."

Henry's eyebrow went up, and Kate was aware of the quietly sceptical look her daughter was sending her. She ignored it while she ensured that everyone's plates were full.

"So is this your first time in Portland?" Lily asked the Rani, in a rather obvious attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yes."

"What do you think?"

The Rani frowned as she considered the question, her fingertip tracing the circumference of the top of her wine glass (in a way that should _not_ have been distracting to Kate but really was). Finally she answered.

"This place is strange. Amongst other things, I saw a man in a black helmet on a unicycle playing the bagpipes while wearing a skirt."

"Oh, the Darth Vader guy?" Lily said, her face lighting up, "Yeah, he's the best! Bit of a local legend."

"Darth Vader guy?" Kate asked, utterly confused. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Oh, so there's this guy here called Brian Kidd who hangs out in this parking lot playing the Imperial March on bagpipes, while riding a unicycle and wearing a kilt and a Darth Vader mask. He's kind of famous. Here, anyway."

"I see," Kate said, still utterly bemused, and the Rani seemed similarly unsure of how to comment and had turned her attention to the roast vegetables on her plate. It occurred to Kate that the Rani probably had no idea who Darth Vader was anyway.

"So, tell us about yourself, Rani," Henry said as he got stuck into his lamb, "Is there a Mr Frey?"

Kate choked on her wine at the mere thought of the Rani having a husband, and Lily tried to hide the grin on her face by taking a drink of her fruit juice.

"What?" Henry asked, confused.

"No," the Rani told him, looking vaguely amused, "Nor will there ever be."

"Workaholic, or pessimist?"

Kate blinked at Henry's bluntness, but the Rani's smug smile hadn't slipped. "Aromantic spectrum workaholic who can't stand people."

"Aromantic what?"

"It means she doesn't experience romantic attraction or feelings the same way most people do, if she does at all," Lily explained to her father, who stared at her.

"How do _you_ know that?"

"The internet," she said simply.

"Oh."

"You never told me that about yourself," Kate said to the Rani, surprised, even though it probably explained a lot.

"It affects neither my ability to work for you nor my ability to have sex with you, so why would I?"

This time it was Henry that choked on his food, and Lily patted him on the back until he was able to swallow the bit of potato. " _What?"_ He managed to wheeze, looking at them with bemusement.

"This isn't _quite_ how I imagined this happening," Kate remarked, making a face, "Ah well."

Lily had the giggles. "No, this is _way_ better than what I had in mind."

Henry looked at his daughter with shock. "You knew about this?"

"Well, Mum's assistant texted her something this afternoon that mentioned her bitchy girlfriend and I saw the text," Lily replied, shrugging, "I guessed that it might be Rani, and I was right. That's why I wanted to meet her."

"Bitchy girlfriend," the Rani muttered, "Is that what that inane scarf girl has reduced me to?"

"You said you weren't seeing anyone," Henry said to Kate, narrowing his eyes.

"You asked me if I had a new man and I told you that I didn't," Kate corrected, sipping her wine, "I wasn't lying to you. It's not my fault you asked me the wrong questions."

"Hang on, does Gordon know about this?" Lily asked, grinning. "Because if he doesn't, can I be the one to tell him?"

"Oh, he knows," the Rani said, smirking. "I was at Kate's when he dropped in for a surprise visit."

Henry and Lily gave Kate incredulous looks, and Kate felt her face warm. "It wasn't anything _bad_ , he didn't walk in on us or anything and _oh dear god_ I can't believe we're even having this conversation-"

"Only her assistant's ever caught us while we were-"

"Rani!" Kate said, glaring at her while her cheeks burned with mortification. "Please stop." The Rani just gave a miniscule shrug and went back to her wine.

"Seconded," Lily said, "I can only hear so much about my mum's sex life before it gets weird, and I'm sure Dad probably agrees."

They all looked to Henry, who still seemed vaguely stunned. "Er, yes." He coughed into his napkin and then frowned at his ex-wife. "But, Kate, I don't understand. She's a woman."

"Really?" Kate feigned great surprise, bringing her hand to her chest and widening her eyes as if shocked. "I had _no_ idea."

He was still frowning, with what looked to be genuine confusion. "So, are you...gay, now?"

"Yes, all the paperwork finally went through last week," Kate said sarcastically, "The application process was tricky but I thought the promised multiple orgasms sounded worth it."

The Rani snickered at the last part of her sentence and Lily buried her face in her hand, but Henry was less amused.

"This isn't a joke, Kate-"

"I don't know, it seemed quite funny to me-"

"Because, I mean, I've got no problem with gays or other such things-"

"How big of you-"

"But it's just that there was Gordon's dad, and then me, and you never mentioned anything about women to me before," Henry continued. "I just don't understand where this has come from."

The Rani was staring at him with an expression that was a mix of disgust and sheer disbelief. "Stewart, are the majority of humans really this dense when it comes to this sort of thing?"

"Unfortunately," Kate replied.

"Dear lord, and I thought my species was bad."

Kate didn't notice that they had gone wrong until she saw how Henry and Lily had both stiffened and were looking at them with confusion.

" _Your_ species?" Henry asked the Rani sharply.

_Shit. Shit shit shit._

The Time Lady had lifted her eyebrows at him. "Yes, _my species_ , who for the record are the opposite of exemplary when it comes to dealing with sexuality, but at least we don't make idiotic assumptions."

"Rani!" Kate said, her heart starting to speed up as their slip up truly dawned on her. "Shut up! What part of keeping quiet about that did you not understand?"

"I won't pretend to be a member of a species that is inherently ignorant," the Rani said haughtily.

"She's an alien?" Henry asked Kate, disbelief and a dangerous edge in his voice.

"Yes," Kate and the Rani said at the same time, the former very reluctantly and the latter with disinterest.

"Did you hit your head when you fell out of that aeroplane, Kate? Here I am, thinking that we were all finally getting somewhere, and then you bring an alien into my house!" His eyes widened. "An alien you're sleeping with. _D_ _ear god, Kate_ , was a normal woman not enough of a change for you? Women I could understand, but an alien?"

"You _told_ me to bring her here!" Kate retorted. "I tried to tell you and Lily that it wasn't a good idea, but you didn't listen."

"Lily, you didn't know about _this_ , did you?" Henry asked his daughter, who had gone very quiet when their voices had risen.

"I didn't know she was an alien," Lily murmured, glancing at the Rani and then back at her plate, "If I had I wouldn't have-"

Henry turned back to Kate, and when he spoke his voice was shaking with the force of his anger. "I told you that if an alien got anywhere near Lily again because of you, that you'd never see her again. I was _not_ bluffing."

"Wait, what?" Lily's head snapped up. "Dad, that's going a little far, I mean, surely Mum wouldn't be dating her if she didn't think she was safe to be around-"

"Stay out of this, Lily," Henry warned.

"I'm not a kid anymore, Dad-"

"I'm sorry, Henry," Kate said loudly, "But I didn't know how to convince you that inviting her over wasn't a good idea without inciting this exact reaction!"

"Generally, if you want to keep something secret, it's because you know that it's wrong," Henry seethed, "Why bring her to Portland in the first place?"

"Her transport is the reason I'm able to be here."

"So you're taking casual rides in spaceships now too."

"It must be _amazing_ to live with your level of ignorance and xenophobia, Henry, it really must," Kate retorted, jumping up from her seat, "But you don't have the right to pass judgement on me when everything I do every day is to keep this planet, its people, and above all _my children,_ safe."

"Is screwing an alien part of the job requirements?" Henry asked sourly. "Part of public relations? Are you hoping that having sex with them will stop them from wanting to invade us?"

"How _dare_ you-"

Ignoring Kate's fury, Henry turned his head to the Rani. She had remained silent the entire time, but Kate now saw her hands were clenched in tight fists where they rested on the table, her face unreadable.

"I notice you haven't said anything to defend yourself," he said to her, coldly.

She barely spared him a glance, her gaze fixed on the table in front of her. There was a stillness to her that Kate recognised as being incredibly dangerous. She wasn't just angry. She was livid.

"I see no reason for me to say anything," she said very quietly, "It's not as if you would listen, and I don't remotely care what you think of me anyway."

"Get out of my house."

"Oh, I'll get out of your solar system, don't you worry about that," she snapped, getting up from her chair and moving to leave only for Kate to grab her arm, "Let go of me, Stewart-"

"Rani-"

" _I told you I didn't want to come here_!" The Rani shouted, her fury and indignation bursting out of her with such power that Kate flinched. "I told you that I wanted to be as far away from this domestic human shitstorm as possible and yet you begged me to come, bribed me until I thought it might actually be worth my while, but _nothing_ is worth this."

"I'm sorry," Kate said desperately, unable to stand the hostility, "I didn't think that-"

"You didn't think at all, if for one second you believed that this could ever end well," the brunette spat, "That I could sit in this den of moronic ignorance, with these people you call family even though they believe you to be so stupid as to associate yourself with someone who would cause them harm! He thinks so little of you, he has no idea of the scale of your achievements-"

"Rani, stop-"

" _I will not stop_!" The Time Lady then turned to Henry, with more disdain in her eyes than Kate had ever seen. "If I had intended to harm you, I would have done it already, which anyone with common sense would have realised upon learning that there was an alien at their table. I've killed hundreds of your kind over the centuries for the sake of my experiments, but haven't since my association with Kate, and do you know why?"

The silence that followed her question was deafening.

"She asked me not to," the Rani said, sneering, "But she has asked a lot of me since and while I will honour my first promise, I am _done._ Done with her. Done with all of this. I can't stomach being around your kind a moment longer. If I never come back to this pathetic little planet it'll be too soon."

"Wait, you can't just-"

The Rani cut Kate off. "I can do whatever I like," she replied coldly, "I have tolerated your culture and your people until now but this is too much. You knew it and asked it of me anyway. The fact that I'm even here proves how much I've let you skew my reasoning. Well not any more. Consider this experiment a failure."

Kate felt sick. "So what, you're just going to leave?"

"I'm freeing myself, something I should have done months ago." The Rani yanked her arm out of Kate's grip. "Have a nice life, Kate. Or don't. Frankly, I couldn't care less any more, and I'm not sure why I ever did."

With that, the Time Lady strode out without looking back, leaving Kate frozen, her arm still out in front of her where she had been preventing her exit. There was a long silence.

"Is it true?" Henry asked, making Kate turn to look at him.

"Is what true?" Most of her didn't care whatever it was he was going to ask her about. She was too busy trying to comprehend what had just happened. The Rani was gone. And this time, she really wasn't coming back.

"Did you know that she'd killed people, humans, when you got involved with her? When you brought her here?"

The gravity of how badly she had fucked up was finally setting in. Kate could only swallow.

"Yes," she murmured.

"Get out," Henry's voice was quiet, but that didn't make his tone any less authoritative, "I can't even look at you any more."

Kate bit back tears and was met by Lily when she headed for the door. Without saying a word, her daughter gave her a very tight hug that Kate knew was a goodbye.

"I'm eighteen, he can't keep me away from you, don't worry about that," she whispered into Kate's ear, "But I think it might be best for now if you go."

Kate pressed a kiss to the side of her head and cradled the back of it with her hand, basking in what could be the last embrace she shared with her daughter for a long time. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," she whispered back, "For everything."

"...I know."

They let go of each other, and Kate knew that she wouldn't be able to keep her composure any longer but refused to cry in front of Henry. She left with only a single glance back at Lily, who seemed to be holding back tears as well.

Once Kate was outside, she leant against the nearest street lamp pole and let the sobs finally escape her chest.

How could she have been so stupid? This morning she had had everything and now she'd lost it all. All because she had gotten idealistic and sentimental and _blind_. Everything that had happened was her fault and had been so entirely predictable. But she'd ignored sense, too caught up in the idea of getting to tease and shock the man who had turned on her and taken her daughter away. Too caught up in petty revenge to consider the real consequences it could have.

And this was what she had to show for it.

It took a few minutes to get the tears to stop, but finally she composed herself enough to be able to call one of the Osgoods, even though she knew it was currently the middle of the night in England.

"Osgood?" She said when one picked up. "I - I need you to get me on the next flight back to London. Please."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really really sorry. But this was always going to happen. This is not the end of Kani or the story, though! Stay tuned for some upcoming angst and later making up!


	14. Shattered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate and the Rani deal with their fallout in their own ways.

Missy hadn't seen the Rani sulk this badly since the time they'd been stranded together after the incident in Killingworth. At least there wasn't a tyrannosaurus rex involved this time.

Learning that Kate Lethbridge-Stewart was somehow still alive had been a great surprise to Missy, but only mildly disappointing because things were much more convenient without the Rani wanting to kill her. Although, apparently after all that fuss, her old friend and the daughter human had fallen out. The typical sort of idiocy that tended to go with Time Lord association with humans. She really didn't know why anyone bothered, when it only led to incredibly foul moods on the part of the Time Lord in question.

"You know, humans have a saying that if you make faces like that, they'll stay that way when the wind changes," Missy said to the other brunette, who was sitting in the corner with a data tablet and scowling at it. "Ridiculous, of course, but a rather entertaining thing to imagine."

"Leave me alone," the Rani grumbled.

"Leave _you_ alone?" Missy repeated, airily. "May I remind you that this is _my_ evil lair, which you so unceremoniously barged into? Your complete lack of finesse is bad enough, but now you're just being difficult and _rude_."

"Because I've always been so easygoing and polite."

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you, Rani dear."

"I don't see why you won't let me set up a lab here. It's not as if you couldn't use my help."

"Usually, Rani, I'd be absolutely delighted by such an offer, because it would mean I could spend all day getting on your nerves, which you know is one of my favourite pastimes." At Missy's smirk, the Rani rolled her eyes. "But you're not being _any_ fun at the moment, because you're busy moping over some yellow haired monkey. Do you even realise how bad it is that I'm the one telling _you_ that you need sort your head out?"

A potted plant went flying at her head, and Missy dodged it with an elegant spin on her shoe heel.

"Naughty," she tutted, "You're my _guest_ , you have to be good." The Rani just lifted an eyebrow and Missy started cackling, wiping a stray tear from her eye. "Oh, you're right, I couldn't say that with a straight face. Seriously though, the moping is boring, dear. You need to sort that out."

"Call me 'dear' one more time and we'll see how boring I am."

This time it was Missy's eyebrow that went up, and she took a few steps towards her friend, a grin on her face. "Oh? Do elaborate, dearest." The last word was heavy and deliberate on her tongue, while her eyes were locked with the Rani's.

The other Time Lady jumped up and slammed Missy into the nearest table, practically snarling. "Why must you always deliberately antagonise me?"

"Because you always rise to the occasion," Missy purred, wriggling against her and making the Rani falter as she glanced down at Missy's lips, noting how close they were to her own.

The next thing Missy knew she was being kissed with a brutal force, the Rani's hands clutching at her waist while her tongue pushed past Missy's lips. After a moment of surprise, Missy tangled a hand in the Rani's hair and kissed back with an equal ferocity.

It was over as quickly as it began, with the Rani jumping back as if burned. Missy, unphased, delicately wiped at her mouth where she knew she would have smudged lipstick.

"I thought you liked blondes," she said casually as she did so.

"That was always you," the Rani replied with a sneer. Missy wasn't sure if it was a reference to Lucy Saxon or the Doctor's fifth self, or possibly both. Either way, she just smirked and reapplied her lipstick.

"Or perhaps we're more similar than you like to think."

The Rani scowled. "Hardly."

Missy sighed as dramatically as she could. "Look, this has been fun, but why don't you just admit that you miss this stupid human of yours and get back to her? When I say the moping doesn't suit you, I really do mean it. It's ruining the whole vibe I've got going on here. This is an evil lair, not a place for sulking biochemists to feel sorry for themselves."

A very harsh Gallifreyan insult was flung her way, and Missy blinked.

"Do you kiss your human girlfriend with that mouth?" She dodged the paperweight hurled at her and clicked her tongue. "The High Council would choke on their own ego hearing you talk like that."

"Something I'd pay to see," the Rani retorted, turning around and heading for the door.

"Oh good, you're leaving then?" Missy said brightly.

"I've no idea why I came here in the first place."

Missy examined her nails and made a face. "Well, you don't exactly have a lot of other friends, do you? And by that I mean none at all, other than me."

"No wonder I never put a lot of stock into this friendship rubbish then," the Rani said sourly. She walked out without another word, leaving Missy alone.

She never thought she would see the day where a _human_ was responsible for unsettling her old friend Ushas so entirely. Just what was the world coming to?

At least now she could get back to trying to find the Doctor so that she could continue making his life a living hell. But he was proving very difficult to track down, much more than usual, which was strange given that this version didn't seem to have much of a subtle or plotter streak.

Just where was the idiot?

* * *

Kate had found a new best friend in her favourite brand of whiskey.

She'd cracked into it immediately upon arriving back at her London apartment, and drank until she'd fallen asleep only to be woken by a call from one of the Osgoods the next morning. She claimed that she felt ill, which with her hangover wasn't exactly a lie, and wallowed on the couch for most of the day.

After that embarrassing self-pity fest of a day, getting back to work had been essential, but she buried herself in paperwork because of its mindless nature. The bottle of whiskey was never too far away and she drank more than she had ever previously allowed at work - even more than the first time Lily had been taken away from her.

Thankfully, a week and a reassuring phone call from Lily later, the drinking was relegated back to just her apartment. Losing the Rani was something Kate could just about handle - it was the losing Lily at the same time that had sent her over the edge.

The real shock came when Gordon barged into her apartment on December 20th, just under three weeks after the whole Oregon disaster.

"Merry Christmas," he said cheerily.

Kate, who had only just woken up and been poking at a bowl of cereal with her spoon, stared at him. "You're five days early."

"And yet not a moment too soon," he replied without missing a beat, "Look at this place, you haven't even got a tree."

"I've had a lot on my mind."

"Yeah, because your grouchy alien girlfriend dumped you," Gordon said flatly, "And I'm here to tell you to get over it."

"Charming," Kate said, lifting an eyebrow. "Nice to know I can turn to my son for comfort."

"Comfort I can give, but first you've got to pull yourself together," Gordon told her as he put down the shopping bags in his hands, "You're Brigadier-Director Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. She doesn't mope because someone who wasn't even worth her time decided to fuck off back to space."

Kate involuntarily sat up a bit straighter upon hearing her full title. "I'm not moping."

"Yes, you are. And you're the woman I've watched verbally eviscerate key members of Parliament who were trying to interfere with UNIT business. You're the woman who took on Malcolm Tucker in a bollocking match and _won_. So I'm telling you, chin up, realise you're better off without her, and help me put these groceries in the fridge."

Kate got to her feet, with the speed of a soldier obeying an order. Then she caught herself and put her hands on her hips.

"You're not too old for a smack, you know."

"I brought wine."

"Fine. You win."

* * *

Once the groceries were away, Kate was dragged out of the house for Christmas tree and decoration shopping. A very small part of her quietly hoped for an alien emergency that would get her out of it, but once they'd actually started she realised how nice it was to be able to spend some time with Gordon.

"Why aren't you with Katrina?" She finally thought to ask.

"She's gone back to Ireland to spend Christmas with her parents," Gordon said, shrugging, "I was invited, but I'd rather be with you, especially since you've not got anyone else."

"I don't need your pity, Gordon," Kate said sharply.

"It's not pity, it's wanting to spend time with my mum on Christmas," he retorted, "The fact that you probably need my company just as much is just a bonus."

She relaxed a fraction, and sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be snapping at you." She put her arm around his shoulders to hug him to her briefly and kiss his temple. "Thank you, darling."

His cheeks were pink by the time she let go of him. "You must be feeling better if you're back to public displays of affection."

"You love that I still like to embarrass you."

"Pft."

Kate took that as a _yes, but I'm never going to admit it_ , and just smiled to herself as they picked a tree and filled out the delivery form before going on to find decorations that weren't completely cheap and nasty.

They stopped at a nice cafe for lunch, and Kate realised that she had not eaten decent food since America, having been existing on substandard nutrition that could be bought at her convenience.

"I'm sorry for being a pain," she told Gordon with a sigh about halfway through their meal.

"You're not really, and it's fine," he said, smiling softly, "Mum, you got your heart broken at the same moment all that shit with Lily and Henry fell apart just when it was starting to come together again. I can only imagine how royally shit that was."

Kate frowned. "I didn't…get my heart broken."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "No?"

"There would have to be love involved for me to get my heart broken," she muttered into her cup of coffee, not bothering to disguise the bitterness in her voice.

"If you're about to try and convince me that it was just sex between you two, it's not going to work," Gordon said, "Because I saw you two together. Maybe it wasn't love, but it was more complicated than just sex, and please don't bother trying to deny that."

Kate didn't. She just set her jaw and looked out the window.

"I'm better off without her," she said, "She's a terrible person who has done terrible things."

"But you liked her."

"Did I?"

"You enjoyed her company. You cared about her."

"Do we have to keep talking about this?" Kate asked sharply. "I'd like to try and forget that I ever met her, which is difficult when you keep going on about it."

"That's not a healthy way to deal with this-"

"You're my son, not my therapist, Gordon," she snapped. "I got caught up in her like a teenager and now I want to forget what an embarrassment I made of myself. Now, I'd love to spend Christmas with you but you need to tell me right now that you're not going to bring her up again."

Gordon held her gaze, set his lips in a firm line, and nodded.

"Good. Now come on, those groceries you bought won't quite be enough."

"What do you mean? There's loads-"

"I have a couple more guests in mind."

* * *

As Kate had suspected, the Osgoods could hardly go home for Christmas given that their family didn't know about their new dual situation (as far as she understood it, they took turns visiting when it wasn't a special occasion). This meant that when Kate extended an invitation for them to join her and Gordon for Christmas Day, she received two enthusiastic 'yes please's for her answer.

They turned up in matching Christmas jumpers, one wearing a bow tie and the other the multicoloured scarf.

"Merry Christmas!" They chorused in unison, in a way that on any other day of the year would have been disconcerting, but today made Kate smile the first truly genuine smile she could recall since America.

"Merry Christmas," she said, ushering them in. "Glad you could make it."

"Well, we couldn't very well go home," the Osgood in the scarf said, "That conversation would go well. _Hi mum, a thing happened and now there's two of us. Surprise!_ "

"I figured as much," Kate told them, chuckling, "Now, you two know Gordon?"

"Oh, yes," Bowtie Osgood squeaked, turning a bit pink.

"Nice to see you again," Gordon said to them, giving them a warm smile, "Even if there was only one of you last time. Still, no complaints about having two pretty faces instead of one."

The Osgoods took puffs of their inhalers in perfect unison, with matching scarlet cheeks.

Kate sighed with exasperation. "Gordon, I told you this the last time, do _not_ flirt with my assistant, she can't handle it. Either of them."

Gordon grinned, looking far too pleased with himself, and gave the Osgoods a wink. The inhalers came out again and he laughed as he went back to setting the table.

Kate swore under her breath, but couldn't help feeling a maternal warmth in her chest as she watched the three of them. Having them there, despite two other people part of her wished were here as well, made everything, for the moment, wonderful.

* * *

For New Year, Kate went to Gordon and Katrina's, and the large number of people at the party helped lull her sense of loneliness, even if the government cover story for her work got tiresome to tell after a while.

She got two offers of New Year kisses from middle aged men with receding hairlines, and she politely declined, claiming to have just gotten out of a relationship, which she considered a lie but deep down knew was almost true in its own way. Still, she got friendly with a friend of Katrina's and was able to enjoy herself all the same.

Once back at work a few days later, there was plenty to be doing. They had a new transfer, a woman close to her own age called Jac who was a breath of fresh air and a welcome addition to their scientific team. Kate liked how most of the workers around immediately her were women - it was nice to feel the change from the male-dominated military force the organisation had once been.

It was just her luck that the day the planes stopped was the day that she'd been over at Gordon's helping him with the spacious garden they were trying to get sorted. When she'd gotten the call, she'd had to throw her gardening gloves to the ground and race to HQ, arriving only a few minutes before Clara Oswald.

After telling promising to get back to the president, Kate hung up her phone and turned her attention to the diminutive brunette who had just strode in. Her questions about the Doctor were deflected, which Kate found disheartening, even if Clara's points for not yet contacting the Time Lord were at least somewhat valid.

They debated what the trick with the planes could be for, bringing up all the awful possibilities and realising just how dismal their situation could be depending on what was done with the planes by whoever had frozen them.

The message coming through the Doctor channel, though, was a even more concerning.

_YOU SO FINE - YOU BLOW MY MIND - HEY MISSY YOU SO FINE YOU SO FINE YOU BLOW MY MIND HEY MISSY!_

Nearby, Clara had turned ashen. Kate similarly felt sick to her stomach as she was hit with the horrifically vivid memories of hurtling through the sky towards the ground, of being sure she was going to die until the cold metal of her dead father's arms caught her and the metallic voice had said, _got you, Tiger_.

Missy's giant digital head popping out of the screen nearly gave Kate a heart attack, but it at least pulled her from the jolting recollection of her near death experience.

"Okay, cutting to the chase. Not dead, back, big surprise, never mind," the psychopathic Time Lady said, as if she were very bored, "I'm in a lovely little square in one of your, oh, I don't know, hot countries. There's a light breeze coming from the east, this coffee is a buzz-monster in my brain, and I'm going to need eight snipers."

Kate could only stare incredulously. "Eight what?"

"Three for each heart, and two for my brain stem. You'll have to switch me off fast, before I can regenerate. How fast can you get here? Ooo, I'll need to arrange you a flight corridor."

"Why do you need snipers?"

"Because it's the only way she'll feel safe enough to talk to me," Missy said, her gaze flicking to Clara, who was still rigid, "Shall we say four o'clock?"

They got busy locking onto Missy's signal and sending Clara off to Spain as swiftly as they could, and once she was out of the door, Kate turned back to the screen, where Missy was waiting with a strange patience.

"Anything else?" Kate asked her, putting her hands on her hips.

Missy cocked her head slightly, eyebrow furrowing. "Well, I am a little intrigued by the fact that you're still alive, given that I threw you out of a plane. How did you manage that?"

"Well, you know us Lethbridge-Stewarts," Kate said, lifting her chin, "We don't go down easily."

"No, it is a remarkably annoying family trait, that's true," the Time Lady mused, "I simply realised I forgot to ask your girlfriend. I was too busy dealing with all her sulking, because good _god_ can that woman brood, I've not seen her like this since she was a teenager."

"Are we done? Because I really don't have any interest in continuing this discussion," Kate said, scowling at her.

"Yes, we're done, I just thought you might want to know of the great inconvenience your sapphic drama has been causing me these last few months-"

Kate shut the screen off, slamming her hand down on the button with far more force than necessary.

"Sapphic drama?" Jac asked from nearby, rather delicately.

"It's a long story," an Osgood said from the doorway, having apparently arrived on the scene while Kate had been talking to Missy. One Osgood had gone back into the Zygon fray, as things there had gotten a bit shaky again. Kate still had no idea which one was the one currently at the London HQ.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend," Jac said to Kate, smiling only to falter at Kate's stony expression. "Oh. Or...ex-girlfriend?"

"Neither," Kate muttered.

"It's complicated," Osgood tried to say, shrugging, "Best not to ask, to be honest."

Kate just sighed and went off to make some tea before Clara got to Spain and they had to monitor her conversation with Missy. Things had been getting better, a lot better, but this day was determined to keep throwing her curveballs.

Things didn't get much better from there. Losing several of their agents to Missy and then having Clara Oswald teleported away - kidnapped? - right before their eyes had been harrowing to say the least. After many hours of worrying, Kate finally got a text from Clara letting her know that she was okay and so was the Doctor, and that the crisis was officially over.

Kate unfortunately didn't get the luxury of going home to collapse on the couch and drink whiskey. Incidents like this always involved a heinous amount of paperwork. Not that smug, morally bankrupt aliens ever considered such things.

* * *

Autumn came, and with fairly limited alien activity other than occasional disturbing (but vague) reports from Osgood on the Zygon treaty, Kate found herself idle a little more than she'd have liked.

It was this time of the year the year before that she had been getting caught up in the whirlwind of snark that was the Rani. When everything had been dark auburn hair and contralto laughter and anger and desire and all those stupid, wonderful things that had made her feel more alive than she had in years.

As Kate sat on her couch in her pajamas on a Sunday where she actually had a day off, she found her mind wandering to forbidden places, and she was for once without energy to stop it. She was so, so tired of blocking out every possible memory of the woman who had been such a large part of her life for a good year and a half.

And so it all came rushing back. The way the Rani's lips curled into a smirk when she was amused or pleased. The way the Time Lady walked with a confidence and purpose not even Kate could embody. How it had been so easy to shut the Rani's rants about humans up by kissing her. The feeling of her scars under Kate's fingertips, how it had taken her months but she had memorised every single one.

Kate didn't realise she was crying until she wondered why her face felt wet.

 _Stupid, awful, infuriating alien_ , she cursed, _you're the worst thing that ever happened to me and here I am wishing you'd just walk through my door like nothing happened._

Only, the Rani wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened to Kate. Quite the opposite. When she had for so long been caught up in being a Brigadier-Director, a mother, a wife, then an ex-wife, Kate had almost lost her sense of self. Or at least, who she was away from UNIT, when her home was devoid of family.

The Rani had brought back a part of her she'd almost forgotten, a part that was just _her_ , and could do as she wished, be with who she wished, live for herself and not the planet or her children or her husband.

And somewhere along the way, Kate had gotten attached. Too attached. Thinking about it now made her gut ache, her entire being longing for the indescribable scent that had been just _Rani_ and the coolness of her skin against Kate's, and the soothing low tones of her voice.

Kate realised, sitting there on a Sunday morning in blue flannel pajamas with tears running down her cheeks, that contrary to what she had told Gordon at Christmas, she had definitely in same way fallen for the brunette alien.

What a cosmic joke.

For a second she thought about what Missy had told her a few months before. That the Rani had been in an awful mood too, that she had been brooding. Kate wasn't stupid enough to hope that the Rani might be in love with her in return or even love her in any way, but for a fleeting moment the human dared to hope that perhaps at least in her own way the Time Lady missed her and might return.

Then she took that hope and mentally set it on fire as she wiped furiously at her eyes.

 _Pull yourself together, Stewart,_ she told herself, ignoring how the voice in her head almost sounded like the one she was trying so hard to forget.

Her phone sat heavy in her pocket for the rest of the day, a singular photo of the Rani still in the photo stream. Part of her knew she should delete it. But she couldn't bring herself to do it, nor could she bring herself to look at the photo.

It was just there. Unable to be brought back, unable to removed completely. Just like the real thing.

* * *

A few weeks later, Kate woke to knocking at her front door. When she saw that it was almost four in the morning, she got out of bed and marched through her apartment ready to verbally disembowel whoever the hell had the audacity to disturb her at such a ridiculous time.

She threw open the door, mouth already open and half an expletive already on its way out of her mouth, but froze when she saw who was standing there.

Words failed her entirely and she felt like she was going to be sick.


	15. Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After an unpleasant time apart, Kate and the Rani talk until they don't need to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love these snarky idiots. Sorry this took so long after the Chapter Of Pain.

_Everybody's waiting up to hear if I dare speak your name_

_Put it deep beneath the track, like the hole you left in me_

_And everybody wants to know 'bout how it felt to hear you scream_

_They know you walk like you're a God, they can't believe I made you weak_

**Strange Love - Halsey**

* * *

With the metallic jacket plastered to her skin, hair hanging in tendrils that were dripping on the wooden floor, and droplets of water clinging to her skin, the Rani made for a such a strange picture on Kate's doorstep that it halted Kate's reflex to slam the door in her face.

"What the hell are you-" Kate's question disappeared as she frowned. "Why are you all wet?"

"TARDIS malfunction," the Rani replied without missing a beat, "I had to run three blocks."

The mental image was so bizarre that Kate had to let it pass. Her original question returned to her. "What the hell are you doing here, Rani?" She asked, wishing her tiredness wasn't so blatant in her voice.

The Rani stood up a little straighter and took a deep breath. "I hate this planet. I hate the people, and the pollution-"

Fury built up in Kate. "All these months, and that's what you're leading with? You know what? Go fuck yourself-"

The Rani ignored her and kept talking, shoving her foot in the door when Kate tried to close it. "And the weather, and frankly almost every damned thing about it. But...I _don_ ' _t_ hate _you_. On the contrary, I will, almost gladly, brave all the things about this place that I loathe if it means...being with you."

Kate involuntarily let go of the door, and the pushing of the Rani's foot meant that it swung open. For at least ten seconds the blonde just held the Time Lady's gaze. The words stunned and speechless didn't really begin to cover it.

"What the hell do you expect me to say to that?" She finally asked.

The Rani pursed her lips. "I honestly don't know."

"Then why bother saying it at all?"

"It felt like you should...know."

"Know what? That you'd put up with everything on this planet that you can't stand just for the sake of a good human shag?" Kate asked, making the other woman flinch. "Well tough-"

"Do you really think that's all you are?" The Rani demanded, anger flashing across her face. "After everything you know about my people, about me? For Rassilon's sake, Kate, I thought you had a brain in that head of yours."

"Oh please, I was never deluded enough to think you actually held any real sort of care for me, even before I knew you were aromantic," Kate said, rolling her eyes.

"Aromantic spectrum," the Rani corrected, "And that doesn't diminish my ability to care-"

"No, you and your robotic set of supposed emotions take care of that perfectly well on their own," Kate spat.

The Rani, for a moment, looked taken aback before a scowl twisted her features. "You really are an idiot. You have no _idea_."

Kate snorted and crossed her arms over her jumper. "No? Enlighten me then."

"Do you know how long it's been for me? Since that debacle in America?"

"How long?"

"Five years," the Rani said flatly. Kate hadn't been expecting that and bit her lip. "And if you absolutely must know, I could barely get any kind of feasible research done that entire time, because in the back of my mind, there was _you_."

She said it like it should mean something, but Kate wasn't moved.

"Of course, the unfinished experiment," she said, her voice incredibly bitter. "Well I am done being your little human toy you can hurl verbal abuse at whenever you get bored."

The Rani stared at her with disbelief. "Could you just open your mind and ears for one second and _listen_ -"

"No, as a matter of fact, I won't, it's a ridiculous hour of the morning and I want to sleep, so you can go to hell and leave me alone-"

" _I was scared, Kate!"_

The shout echoed in the air between them, Kate freezing and trying to comprehend the sentence but being totally unable to reconcile the meaning with the woman in front of her. And yet...her grey eyes were wide, her entire body tense, like she couldn't quite believe she'd actually spoken the words and was horrified to realise she had.

"What?" Kate couldn't bring herself to say any more than that.

The Rani's jaw was tight. "Don't expect me to say it again."

"I was thinking elaborate, as opposed to repeat."

The brunette sighed, her whole frame so rigid that it was obvious part of her wanted to turn away and run in the other direction. "I - you gave me the out I'd been looking for, in America, a good reason to cut and run," she said slowly, "And...because I was scared...I took it."

"But scared of what?" That was the part Kate couldn't fathom.

The Rani swallowed, like the candor of what she was about to say was poison clogging up her throat. "...of how I was starting to-" She shut her eyes for a moment. "...feel. About...you."

Whatever Kate had been expecting, it hadn't been that. She tried to say something, anything, but no words found their way out of her mouth. Her silence meant that the Rani put her hands on her hips, and kept talking.

"I don't know if what it was-" She clicked her tongue, looking annoyed, but for once possibly at herself. "What it _is_...is in any way remotely similar to what someone like you feels in this circumstance, but for me it was...enough to be nothing short of alarming."

"So what you're saying is that you _might_ have romantic feelings for me," Kate summarised, her voice quiet.

"I'm saying that I don't know," the Rani said, frowning, "And that in five years it hasn't become even remotely more clear to me. I don't know in what way it is that I care...just that I do."

Kate felt a weight in her gut. It was hope, peaking out its head that perhaps what had been between them could be salvaged, even if she had spent months trying to convince herself that it wasn't something she wanted or needed. She leaned against the doorframe, trying to muster up the nerve to say what she knew she had to.

"I think I'm at least half in love with you, or was," she said frankly, to gauge the Time Lady's reaction. To her surprise, she didn't even flinch. She didn't necessarily look happy about it either, though - her expression was entirely neutral, her gaze even. "And I seriously doubt that's something you can handle-"

"If you want me to tell you the same I can't," the Rani replied, "And I can't promise I ever will. Can _you_ handle _that_?"

"But you apparently feel _something_. You...care about me. In some way."

"Yes."

"The experiment?" Kate asked tentatively, standing up straighter and away from the door frame's support.

The Rani didn't even blink. "Fuck the experiment, Kate."

The blunt words cut through any remaining resolve that Kate had, and as she stared at the maddening, impossible, magnificent woman in front of her, a suffocating wave of longing crashed over her.

In a total antithesis to what she was feeling, all that she said was, "Okay."

A dark eyebrow went up. "Okay?"

"What more do you want?" Kate asked, staring at her. "Are you going to kiss me or not?"

A small shudder went through the Rani's body, one that had to be of relief if the look on her face was anything to go by, and in a second it was replaced by one of the same need that was coursing through Kate like a live current. The brunette lurched forward and seized Kate's jumper in her fist and used it to yank them together, her lips crushing Kate's in a forceful kiss that sent them physically back into the apartment and past the door.

Kissing the Rani again, after all this time, was like realising that she'd been cold for months and only now could feel warmth again.

Kate kissed her back just as hard, so much so that the Rani's back hit the door and slammed it shut. The need to touch her everywhere was overwhelming. To be sure that this was real and actually happening and that she was actually here. Her hands pulled at the jacket, too impatient to undo the buttons and so ripping them instead, which would surely get her in trouble later.

The Rani's hands, meanwhile, had come to hold Kate's head firmly, her fingers twisting in her hair. She was forced to let go when Kate pushed the jacket down her arms, and their kiss finally broke at the same time.

"Bedroom?"

"Bedroom," Kate agreed breathlessly, "I'm too old for this hard surface shit."

They kissed again and started moving through the house, navigating poorly because they were really not paying attention to where they were going. After several collisions with furniture and walls, they made it into Kate's bedroom. By the time they made it to the bed, Kate's jumper and shirt were on the floor, and the Rani's undershirt was being thrown to join them.

Finally Kate could see and touch the scars that had haunted her dreams. Her hands sought them out, brushing over the skin as the Rani straddled her hips.

"I missed you," Kate whispered, and a moment later she realised that her eyes were wet, which was frustrating and embarrassing. She waited for ridicule, either at that or her sentimental words - or even worse, for the Rani to get up and leave.

But the Rani had always been one to surprise her. She said nothing, even though it looked like there was a lump in her throat, and used her finger to brush away the track of the one tear that had had the nerve to fall down Kate's cheek. Then the brunette kissed her, in a way she never had before, with a softness and - dare she even think it - tenderness that was oh so strange but somehow everything Kate had ever needed.

Her hands moved down Kate's body, touching everywhere. Kate's arm hooked around her neck to pull her even closer.

The kiss had slowed them down, and it lasted a long while, their lips lingering in a tiny pocket of time where the urgency between them was gone. But finally, it was broken, and the Rani gave Kate a minute smile before moving her mouth to the blonde's neck. Kate's fingers wound in her damp hair as the slow, cool kisses moved down her body. The Rani's hands pulled down Kate's pajama bottoms, leaving Kate bared to her.

"You as well," Kate murmured. The Rani paused in her actions to pull off her own dark trousers and underwear.

"Better?"

"Much." She pulled the Rani down for a hard kiss, her hands sliding over the smooth skin of her back before moving to the scarred front. The ridged skin was an anchor, a reassurance of the reality of what was happening.

What followed was different to any of the times before. Every touch, every gasp, every brush of lips against soft skin was more urgent. Not in a hurried way fueled by sheer physical desire but in a way that was more inherent, not just a powerful want but instead for the first time a _need_.

Kate completely lost track of time, the need to keep some kind of hold on the Rani so strong that it was impossible to think about stopping. One good thing about Time Ladies was that they were never lacking in stamina.

But finally Kate was so tired - given that she hadn't been well rested when it had all started - that she just collapsed into her pillows. The Rani, who was on top of her, smirked and dropped to lie next to her.

"Get some sleep," she said to Kate, "Even I'm going to."

Kate nodded and shut her eyes, feeling sleep half take her immediately. She laid her head against the Rani's shoulder without giving it any thought and quickly lost consciousness.

* * *

When Kate woke, another body curled around hers, it took her a second to remember all that had happened. The fact that the Rani was still here and hadn't fled into the night was more of a relief than it probably should have been.

Kate shut her eyes and did her best to process all that she had been too busy to do before. The impossible truth made her body shudder, and a few tears came to her eyes again, which she brushed away as best as she could without disturbing the Rani's arm which was slung around her waist.

"You're awake," came a sleepy murmur from behind her, and Kate turned over to look at the Rani, who was propping herself up on her elbow.

The brunette was all mussed hair and bare shoulders, her eyes clear while a smile played on the corner of her lips. For a second Kate could only stare.

"Have I ever told you that you're beautiful?" She said, and the Rani's eyebrows went up slightly.

"No, not that I can recall."

"Well," Kate said, more awkwardly, "Now I have." She got a small, amused smile in return, and a hand trailing up her arm.

"It's not something I give any thought or care, but I appreciate the sentiment all the same."

The Rani leaned in to kiss Kate briefly, but when Kate kissed back they got carried away. When they broke apart, the Rani curled a golden strand of hair around her finger. There was a thoughtful look on her face, hesitant in the way she'd been at the door.

"What?" Kate asked. "What is it?"

"For the record," the Rani said quietly, "I...also missed you." She made a face. "Obviously. Or I wouldn't _be here_."

Kate smiled, more widely than she probably should have. "Well, good."

The Rani rolled her eyes.

It wasn't until Kate looked at her phone and saw the five missed calls and seven text messages that she realised it was two in the afternoon.

"Oh fuck," she said, sitting up and dislodging a now disgruntled Rani. She opened the texts, which were all from the London Osgood.

**Osgood 1:** _Situation in the Black Archive, please get here ASAP._

**Osgood 1:** _Kate?_

**Osgood 1:** _Okay, I think I might have sorted it._

**Osgood 1:** _Situation more or less neutralised, only took three memory wipes._

**Osgood 1:** _I'll brief you when you get here, whenever that is._

**Osgood 1:** _Enjoy your sleep in. Or at least, I'm hoping it's a sleep in and not that you've been kidnapped by Rutans or anything._

**Osgood 1:** _...maybe text me when you wake up just so I'm sure._

Kate chuckled and sent a quick reply telling her good job for sorting out the crisis and assuring her that she most certainly hadn't been kidnapped by Rutans, but wouldn't be coming in until tomorrow.

"Crisis at HQ?" The Rani asked.

"It's been sorted," Kate replied. "Did you know that the Master paid us a visit a while ago?"

"No, but it's hardly surprising."

"She mentioned something about you sulking."

Annoyance crossed the brunette's face and she rolled her eyes. "Well, she would. Didn't stop saying it to my face either."

"Do you two often have little get togethers?" Kate asked mildly.

The Rani just shrugged. "It happens from time to time."

"I thought you didn't like her."

"I don't."

"So why do you spend time with her?"

"Because she's probably my only friend."

Kate arched an eyebrow and sat up a bit, holding the sheet to her chest. "How can she be your friend if you don't like her?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand," the Rani said offhandedly, "You humans have very black and white views of these things. Friendship amongst near immortals is complicated. I'd have thought you of all people could understand having an undeniable connection with someone you don't necessarily like."

The blonde realised she at least partially had a point. "I like you," she said, tilting her head, "Occasionally."

The Rani chuckled and reached her fingertips out to pull underneath Kate's chin until she was within kissing distance. "Even more remarkably, I could sometimes say the same of you."

"A true miracle of our time," Kate said dryly, before she was being kissed.

"Can I ask you something?"

"I think you just did."

The Rani pulled away from her mouth to give her a very unamused look. Kate stared defiantly back and lifted her eyebrows.

"Let me take you to space," the Rani said simply, "Just once. Just one planet, or one star. Just...something. You said I could, once. Before." _Before_. Before it had all gone wrong, before promises were thrown out the window along with basic humanoid decency. Before she had left.

Before she had come back.

Kate reached out to push some of the Rani's dark hair behind her ear, and felt a kind of victory when the Time Lady didn't flinch. "Okay."

"Okay?"

Kate nodded and kissed her. Harder this time, pushing her back so that she could straddle her hips, but the Rani wasn't having any of that. The alien flipped them over before immediately kissing her way down Kate's body and pushing her legs apart.

"You know, this is bringing a whole new meaning to _fuck the experiment, Kate_ ," the blonde mused.

The Rani started laughing against the skin of her thigh, her warm breath making her lover squirm a little. "I hadn't considered that interpretation. Not my intention, but it works."

"Get on with it, then."

"Yes, Brigadier-Director," she murmured mockingly, before putting her tongue to better use.

* * *

It had seemed like a simple enough idea at the time, but now that Kate was actually back in the Rani's TARDIS and watching her move around the controls, the reality of the fact that she was about to go into space truly hit her.

She had always shied away from any chance to leave Earth. There was sound reason for that - she needed to stay concerned with her home and its security and safety, not have her head up in the stars.

That didn't mean a little part of her, the part of her who was still the little girl whose father had told her about creatures from other worlds raining from the sky, hadn't always longed touch the stars and sky and walk with the people that lived there.

It had never been plausible. Or at least, practical. Until now.

"So, what do you want to see?"

"I don't know. Another planet, I suppose," Kate said slowly, "One that's quite different from Earth."

"In what way?"

"I don't know. Every way. Colour, smell, taste, people. How should I know?"

The Rani tilted her head, considering her words and visibly cycling through her memory. "I'll see what I can do."

When the TARDIS finally landed, Kate found herself hesitating, eyeing the doors with new trepidation. What if it wasn't everything she had ever dreamed? What if it was better, and made her want to leave Earth and never look back? (She wouldn't, of course, but the idea of even the temptation was terrifying.)

"Everything alright?"

Kate glanced over her shoulder. The Rani was eyeing her curiously.

"Yes, it's just-" She bit her lip. "That's another planet out there. A planet so far from mine I can't properly fathom the distance. An alien world."

"That is rather the point," the Rani said, but with more amusement than annoyance.

"No, really?" Kate retorted sarcastically. "I don't know why I expected you to understand. Nevermind, let's go." With a deep breath, she hit the door switch herself - it was only of the only controls she knew - and strode outside.

Right into a rainstorm.

"Oh joy," she said with lethal sarcasm, "Rain. Because I really haven't had enough of that living in _Britain_." The Rani, to her great infuriation, simply smirked and cocked an eyebrow at her.

That was when she realised something.

"The rain is _warm_ ," she exclaimed, staring at the droplets on her hand, "Like a hot shower. Lord, that's bizarre." She glanced at the Rani, who was still looking smug. "It's still _wet_ , so I'm not _that_ impressed - _oh_."

Her gaze had moved upward to mark the path of the strange rain, only to see tree trunks stretching so high she couldn't make anything of the canopy above except a faint shadow.

"Impressive enough yet?" The Rani asked.

Kate gaped. "Getting there. I - we're tiny."

"Or the trees are just incredibly large. Both, of course, are accurate observations, based on simple relativity."

"Of course."

"However, the forest isn't why we're here. You don't think a mere forest would be my one attempt at showing you the wonder of the universe?"

"Honestly, I have no idea what to expect from you anymore."

A smaller, more genuine smile curled the Rani's lips. "Good. Come on, it's this way."

The rain soaked them through as they walked even with the canopy above them, but the sensation wasn't particularly unpleasant. On the contrary, being able to look at the Rani and see her in a near identical state to how she had looked on Kate's doorstep...it somehow solidified everything.

The Rani had come back. The Rani _cared_. And it didn't matter that the sheer prospect of that was terrifying because no one was more afraid than the Rani herself. They could be afraid together.

"So what are you showing me?" Kate asked.

"Better for you to see it, than for me to explain it."

"Are all Time Lords this pretentiously cryptic, or is it just you and the Doctor?"

The Rani snorted. "Now that you mention it, it is a bit of a running trait. But I'm only being honest. The whole reason we're here is because it's so difficult to describe."

"I'll believe that when I see it."

Finally they came to the edge of the tree line, a cliff fell away about ten meters ahead of them. Beyond that was a vast ocean. Or at least, that's what Kate assumed it was. It was near impossible to judge the size and extent of it because it was so turbulent that there was no visible horizon, just black sea and purple sky and no point that stayed still enough to work out where one ended and the other began.

"That's one hell of a storm," Kate said after at least a minute of just staring at it. "If you can even call it that."

"The natives of the planet believe that this is where their two gods are forever locked in battle, one manifesting in the wind and the other with the ocean."

"And what is it really?"

"Two life forms of great power and intelligence who either can't stop fighting or haven't wanted to in over five centuries, who are able to manipulate water and air respectively."

"Wait, what?" Kate blinked at her. "So it's true?"

"Well, they're not gods, obviously," the Rani said dispassionately, "But they are incredibly advanced life forms compared to those who think they are. It's not so surprising - a lot of religion is based on truth. It's the embellishments that are always wrong."

"What about compared to you?" Kate teased.

The Rani rolled her eyes. "I don't know. I've not had a _conversation_ with them - as you can see, they're a little occupied." A vaguely wistful expression entered her eyes. "What I wouldn't give to examine their brain chemistry."

"I know what you mean," Kate said honestly, eyeing the raging battle of elements that her mind could barely comprehend and thinking about what could be learned from the genetic makeup of creatures who could manipulate elements like this. "But I hope you didn't bring me here to help you bring in samples."

That made the brunette chuckle. "Hardly. I happen to _like_ being alive and able to regenerate. For that matter, I tend to prefer you alive too."

"Your compliments are truly unique, you know that?" The comment was a wry one, and they shared a small smile before fading into a mostly comfortable silence where they just stared out at the display before them.

"The Doctor would probably have shown you a sunset on some distant horizon," the Rani eventually said, without looking at her, "But you have sunsets. I wanted to show you something entirely new. Something more...impressive."

Kate's mouth curled with amusement. "It's not a competition, Rani."

The Time Lady bristled. "I know that." Then she added, "And it's not like it _could_ be given that he's never taken you anywhere anyway."

"Not for lack of asking."

"You turned him down?" The Rani was smirking. "Even better."

" _Not a competition_ ," Kate repeated, but couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her. Nothing was more amusing or as secretly endearing as the Rani's petty streak.

"When you go to school with someone, no matter how old you get, to some extent it's _always_ a competition."

"Would it make you feel better if I assured you that I am definitely incredibly impressed right now?"

"Yes."

"Well, I am."

"Enough to consider another trip? Space is vast and full of many other impressive things."

Kate threw her a smirk. "Really? I thought it would be mundane," she said sarcastically, before adding, "He does the wondrous universe spiel better than you, I'm afraid."

The Rani made a 'pft' noise, but quietened when Kate took a chance and reached out to take her hand and interweave their fingers. They stood there silently for a while longer, continuing to watch, before the older of the two finally spoke.

"This is new," she said slowly.

"Yes. Is it okay?"

"I don't dislike it. I don't think."

Kate used their joined hands to tug her around to face her. "Warm rain or not, I'm still soaked to the bone and really can't afford to get sick. How about we get back to the TARDIS where it's warm?"

"Good idea," the Rani said, obviously having not considered Kate's fragile human health. She tilted her head. "I have a spa, somewhere. It could take a while to find, but it could be enjoyable."

Kate began to grin. "Now _that_ is a good idea."

After racing back through the forest to the TARDIS and spending a good half an hour searching for the spa in question, the two women finally came across the large pool which was so lovely and hot that Kate let out an embarrassing moan when she slipped into it.

They had opted for simply going nude as opposed to hunting down swimsuits, so the Rani had given her a very satisfied look as she entered the pool a moment later.

"Adequate?"

"I may never leave," Kate said, eyes shut. "This is better than any spa I've been in on Earth. No chlorine."

"The perks of more advanced technology."

"Thank the stars for science."

The Rani bent her head to press her lips to the edge of Kate's shoulder. "You know, it's sentences like that which make me remember that my regard for you isn't entirely irrational."

"There you go with those unique compliments again. Careful, one might think you're getting sentimental."

The brunette kissed her before she could make any more such comments, and Kate was all too happy to surrender her mouth and move to straddle the Rani's lap.

"It's good to have you back," she murmured against her lips.

"I'm glad."

Her hand slipped between their bodies. She took great pride in knowing that it was very unlikely that the spa had seen use of this kind before, and ensured they christened it thoroughly, losing themselves in each other and the sensation of the blissful hot water.


	16. Contingency Plans for the Workplace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate and the Rani settle back into the latter being at UNIT, and Osgood isn't afraid to put her newly found backbone to good use.

When Doctor Rani Frey walked back into UNIT HQ after a six month absence, the few that dared to ask her where she had been received very non-committal answers. They assumed it to mean something with a higher security clearance rating than they had.

Petronella Osgood knew better.

Or rather, she knew that 'Doctor Frey' hadn't been sent on some top secret mission so much as fucked off back to space. Where she was from. Because she was an alien. An alien that had broken Brigadier-Director Kate Lethbridge-Stewart's heart no matter how much her boss tried to deny it.

Osgood had found out about the Rani's return and her apparent reconciliation with Kate when she strode into the latter's office only to find a smirking Time Lady perked on the edge of her desk.

"It's good to know my lab has been left how it is," she was saying.

Kate sighed. "Only because I was too worried about my employees hurting themselves with your highly unpredictable and probably dangerous equipment."

"Smart of you."

"Wasn't it just."

"Um," Osgood said from the door, fumbling with the clipboard she had nearly just dropped. The two older women turned to look at her. "So...you're back, then?"

"Obviously," the Rani said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, I thought you were meant to be vaguely intelligent."

"Rani," Kate warned.

"So...everything's alright, then? She's back and we're all...okay with that?"

"Again, _obviously_ ," the Rani muttered.

"Look, you can stop with that attitude, alright," Osgood snapped, with a backbone she wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to maintain.

The Time Lady narrowed her eyes at her. "What was that, little mouse?"

Osgood took a gulp of her inhaler before adjusting her glasses and standing her ground. "I said, stop with the attitude. I get it, you're this hotshot alien who thinks she's better than everyone else, and maybe you are, but you _left_ and you hurt Kate, someone I care about very much. Now, she might have forgiven you for that, but I haven't."

"Osgood-" Kate tried to say, only to be interrupted by the Rani, who was sneering.

"And I care _why_?"

"Because I could get straight on the line to Geneva and tell them that an alien with known previous crimes against humanity has infiltrated this facility and won the trust of the director," Osgood said, lifting an eyebrow.

"I'm terrified," the Rani said sarcastically.

"I know about Time Lords. I could slip aspirin into your tea and kill you stone dead without you knowing. I could do any number of things that you'd never see coming because to you I'm just an innocent, stupid _little mouse_."

Osgood took great satisfaction in the way the Rani adjusted her posture and was now eyeing her with something akin to vague interest. The young woman took another breath and continued talking.

"And maybe I won't do those things for Kate's sake. Maybe I will because I think she's better off without you. But if I were you, I'd start treating me with a bit more respect, because I am a _person_ and I deserve that much. I'm not going to say that if you don't I'll make your life a living hell, because I'm not that petty. But just remember that I can."

With that, she turned and walked away, feeling incredibly proud of herself and of the utterly stunned looks on the Rani and Kate's faces.

The fact that she had to jump into the nearest supply closet and huff from her inhaler for the next minute did very little to diminish her sense of triumph.

* * *

"She has a fair point," Kate admitted once Osgood had gone.

The Rani examined her nails. "I suppose so. I still don't think she has the nerve. But then, if you'd asked me two minutes ago if she had the nerve to stand up to me like that, I'd had said no. Things might get more interesting around here after all."

"Maybe, but not before noon," Kate said grimly, "We've got an executive meeting in ten minutes."

"Why am I hearing a _we_?"

"Because I'm reinstating you into a senior researcher position and they want to know where you've been for the last six months. I told them I sent you on an undercover assignment in the Amazon."

The Time Lady snorted. "And just what am I meant to tell them?"

"Oh, nothing, I'm going to claim that the Doctor turned up, sorted it all out and wiped your memory for good measure because he doesn't always trust us," Kate said, shrugging.

"Simple and believable. I like it."

"Thank you. Now come on. And for the love of science, please be on good behaviour for this."

"I make no such promises."

They headed for the conference room, where Kate took her seat at the head of the table next to two representatives from Geneva and the Colonel that had replaced the one the Rani was fairly sure had been called Ahmed.

The Rani sat in middle on Kate's left, with far too many irritating humans between her and the only human she could tolerate. (Oh, alright, like. She liked Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, as much as she was still loathe to admit it half the time.)

When it came to her being asked about her absence, she simply spun the lies that went with Kate's falsified story, and it apparently satisfied them. When it came to supposed memory loss, it wasn't as if there was much they could do. And it's not as though they had any reason of suspecting Kate was lying to them.

As the meeting continued, the Rani tuned out all the annoying human drivel and took her communicator (which she'd modified to resemble a smartphone) out of her pocket.

_**Rani:** _ _We should do an experiment together_

It was amusing to watch Kate's subtle reaction to feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket. She quickly replied while keeping a straight face as one of the Geneva officials continued talking.

_**Kate:** _ _Is this your idea of sexting_

The Rani smothered a snort and looked up to see Kate quietly smirking to herself.

_**Rani:** _ _Do an experiment with me and you'll find out_

_**Kate:** _ _This is definitely sexting_

_**Rani:** _ _Problem?_

_**Kate:** _ _Not remotely. This meeting is horrifically boring. I forgot how much Ned likes the sound of his own voice._

_**Rani:** _ _All men do._

_**Kate:** _ _Indeed. A universal problem, I imagine?_

_**Rani:** _ _You've met the Doctor. And the Master was just as bad._

_**Kate:** _ _Definitely a universal problem, then._

"Director Stewart?"

Kate glanced up from her phone. "Yes?"

"Are you sure Doctor Frey isn't suffering from any side effects of her time in the Amazon, results of the memory wipe or otherwise?"

"While it's _so good_ of you to be concerned for my well being, Mr Jensen, I can assure you I'm in perfect health," the Rani said with a pleasantness so fake it almost made her want to be sick.

"Don't worry, Mr Jensen, we've spent the last few days performing extensive physical examinations just to be sure," Kate said seriously.

The Rani choked on the mouthful of water she'd just taken. After assuring a few concerned executives that she was fine, she grabbed her phone.

_**Rani:** _ _Is that what we're calling it now?_

_**Kate:** _ _The best lies have fragments of truth._

_**Rani:** _ _You've got some nerve, Stewart, I'll give you that._

_**Kate:** _ _I have to get my fun somehow._

_**Rani:** _ _Because fucking an alien is so commonplace and tedious._

_**Kate:** _ _Your words, not mine._

_**Rani:** _ _We'll see how smart you are when you're begging me to let you come._

To her satisfaction, Kate's cheeks turned a faint shade of pink upon reading the text. The Rani sat back in her chair, feeling a job well done. A reply came through sixteen and a half seconds later. Not that she was counting.

_**Kate:** _ _Promises, promises._

* * *

Osgood headed for her boss's office, the latest report from Geneva under her arm. She almost made it past the PA, but was addressed right before she could knock.

"I think she's discussing something private with Doctor Frey," the girl at the desk, Penny Shao, told her delicately.

Osgood held back from rolling her eyes. "Oh?"

"Well, she said not to disturb them."

"I bet she did," Osgood muttered, and focused her hearing on what was behind the door and just out of Penny's range. She caught some quiet moans and a _please, Rani_ and really did roll her eyes this time.

Squaring herself, she knocked primly. She would not be embarrassed by this. Not this time. But they would be and she was going to relish it.

"Kate? Report from Geneva."

There was faint swearing and then scrambling, and Osgood bit back a satisfied grin.

"One moment," Kate called back, sounding a little out of breath.

Osgood waited patiently through the twenty one seconds it took for a 'come in' to finally be offered. When she opened the door and strode inside, Kate was sat at her desk doing a bad job of pretending to be fishing through the papers in front of her. Her face was flushed with what was likely a mix of embarrassment and...other factors.

The Rani was across the room on the window seat and Osgood pretended not to notice her wiping her mouth on a handkerchief. Which was more courtesy than the other brunette deserved, really.

"Just needed to give you this and let you know that the second section has a couple of errors in it and they're sending through a redrafted version in an hour or so," Osgood said to Kate as she handed over the report. "And the fourth section's statistics are based on France only but they forgot to put that in a footnote."

Kate took the report and lifted an eyebrow. "And of course, this couldn't have just been left with Penny."

Osgood smiled sweetly. "Well, I think it's better to get information right from the source, don't you? You never know what can get lost in translation when there's a middle man."

Kate narrowed her eyes, not fooled. Osgood thought she heard the Rani chuckling behind her back.

"Run along, I'm sure you have more important places to be," Kate said.

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing to her," Osgood replied, tilting her head.

"Out," Kate said firmly, only to add, " _Both_ of you," with slight reluctance and no small degree of irritation. The Rani threw both humans a sour look as she left the room and Osgood followed her with a smirk on her face.

_Osgood: 2_

_The Rani: 0_

* * *

"So I think we should talk."

The Rani glanced up from her biochemistry book - or what was _apparently_ a biochemistry book, it barely resembled a book and was written in bizarre runic lettering - to lift an eyebrow at her. It was a few days since Osgood's rude interruption and they were at Kate's apartment.

"I'm assuming you mean about something specific."

"Yes."

The Time Lady narrowed her eyes. "That's a rather serious expression you've got going on there. Has something happened?"

"Not exactly," Kate said, sighing, "It's more that what Osgood said about Geneva got me thinking. It really would be a good idea for us to have a...contingency plan. Well, maybe two, actually."

"A contingency plan?" The Rani repeated, eyebrows up.

"For if they find out the truth about you, or the truth about us, or both," Kate explained as she sat down opposite her.

The Rani paused thoughtfully. "Surely the repercussions for our slightly unprofessional relationship wouldn't be massively severe."

"No, but I'd still prefer to be able to minimise the scandal, people thinking well of me is unfortunately more important than I'd like to admit."

"I'm sure you'll think of something, I have no interest in navigating pointless human politics," the Rani said, returning her attention to her book and leaving Kate immensely exasperated.

"Fine, but I'm serious about the _other_ contingency plan," she told the Time Lady, leaning over the table to snap the book shut. The Rani glared at her, with an intensity that would have made anyone but Kate wither. "Don't give me that look, we need to talk about this. Osgood's right, if Geneva were to find out who you are, they very well might lock you up and do god knows what to you, and in the likely event that our relationship is brought to light at the same time, I won't be able to do anything to help you because I'll be lucky if they don't send me to the psychiatric sector."

"Your concern is touching, Kate," the Rani drawled as she got up from her chair and absently stretched her muscles, "But you forget. I've kept my experiments over the years very discreet and not remotely near this time or place. _The Rani_ means nothing to UNIT, we can simply pretend I'm a goody two shoes busybody like the Doctor if my biology becomes public. Our relationship could even work favourably for me."

Regret and guilt rose up in Kate's gut, and her reservations must have shown on her face because the Time Lady's eyes narrowed.

"What? Talk, Stewart."

Kate knotted her hands together on her lap. "While you were gone, I might have...felt the obligation to enter your information into the database."

Shock and outrage flashed across the Rani's face, making Kate wince as she braced herself for the Time Lady's wrath. But it was only for a moment, and then an odd, resigned laugh escaped the Rani. Kate was surprised to see amusement in her eyes in addition to the considerable amount of annoyance.

"Of course you did," the brunette said, shaking her head, and she looked at Kate in a way that was almost apologetic. "You had no reason to think I was coming back. I'm a threat you couldn't ignore."

"Yes," Kate said, blinking. She really hadn't expected _the Rani_ of all people to be understanding. "Exactly. I was going to say sorry, but maybe I won't."

"Don't," the Rani replied, "If you hadn't, it would have been proof that our relationship _has_ affected your ability to do your job."

"So...you're not angry that I've put you in legitimate physical danger?"

The Rani approached her, leaning over her slightly and reaching out to brush some hair from Kate's face. "Your concern is...sweet, Stewart, if ridiculous. I'm more than capable of dealing with xenophobic humans, powerful or otherwise."

"It's less to do with you being an alien and more to do with the numerous awful things you've done and are capable of doing."

"Exactly. And if I hadn't done those things, then the danger wouldn't exist. You can't be a scientist of my calibre and nature without resigning yourself to the opposition you're going to meet."

"True," Kate said, making a face, "Though the danger also wouldn't exist if I'd kept my mouth shut."

"Proving that like almost everything we get ourselves into, Stewart, this mess is a joint effort." The Rani slowly pulled Kate out of the chair and to her feet. "Our separate commitments to our causes did this."

Kate looked at her lips, and licked her own. "Why does that almost sound like dirty talk when you say it?"

The Rani chuckled. "Because competence is probably about half the reason we're attracted to each other in the first place."

"Fair point," Kate said breathlessly, before grabbing the Rani by her jacket and kissing her. "Look, I know you think you can handle UNIT if things go south, and maybe you can, but all they would need is one moment of luck-"

"Stewart, kindly shut up," the Rani told her, hands cradling the back of Kate's neck as she kissed her quiet. "Worry is one of your least attractive emotions."

"I'm sorry that you're allergic to them," Kate replied against her lips.

Kate's hands gripped the Rani's hips, pulling them against her own and shamelessly grinding in an attempt to get the needed friction. The Rani's kiss became more urgent, and the Time Lady turned them around, backing herself against the table with Kate pressing herself into the edge of it.

"My species is known for being more or less entirely on the asexuality spectrum and yet here I am, unable to keep my hands off someone like a hormonal teenager," she said wryly into the blonde's neck as she sucked hard on a patch of the skin there. "One would think the drive would have lessened some by now. This is getting ridiculous."

"Is it too much for you, _your ladyship_?" Kate asked, cocking an eyebrow as she unbuttoned the Rani's shirt and trousers.

The Rani rolled her eyes and idly laced her fingers through Kate's short hair as the blonde pulled her trousers down. "Hardly. Impress me, Stewart."

She pushed down on Kate's shoulder with her other hand, and the human dropped to her knees and grinned at the challenge.

For someone who had taken over four decades to realise she was gay, Kate _really_ loved having sex with women. Well, she'd only had sex with the one woman, but that wasn't the point. The logistics would be the same. There was something so exquisite about _tasting_ her, about the way she could make a horde of alien curse words fall from the Time Lady's tongue just with the ministrations of her own.

She had the power to reduce a smug alien to a shuddering slave to physical sensation and Kate wasn't sure she would ever be satisfied with anything else.

Did she possibly have a sexual power complex? It seemed likely. Was it something she would change even if she could? Not for a second.

The Rani's fingers tightened in her hair until it was painful, but Kate was so hopelessly turned on by the tiny gasps escaping the brunette that the pain only augmented it all. Finally, the Rani's body trembled with release and Kate smiled with satisfaction, turning her head to press lazy, wet kisses to the Time Lady's inner thigh.

"We need a contingency plan," she said quietly, her fingers tracing over the Rani's skin just above the knee, "If only for my own peace of mind. I _know_ you're capable of taking care of yourself, but as ridiculous as it is, if something happened to you, I'd be beside myself."

"I have the remote control for the TARDIS," the Rani replied. Her voice was hesitant and breathy. "It wouldn't be difficult to program it to materialise in proximity to a receiver. I could give the control to you, so that if I were to be locked away, you can send my TARDIS to me."

There were still a lot of holes in that plan, but it was a start, and certainly the best Kate could ask for. It was a miracle in itself her request hadn't been brushed to the side again.

"Sounds good," she said, getting to her feet and kissing the Rani softly before undoing her own blouse. "Now, if it's alright with you, I'd like you to make me forget all about all this."

The Rani smirked and used the belt loop on Kate's trousers to pull her in closer while her other hand unceremoniously pushed underneath her waistband. Within two seconds her fingers were curling just so and making Kate swear loudly.

A few hours later, her back would get its revenge for her engaging in sex on an impractical angle against a table, but for now she let her eyes fall shut and the pleasure wash over her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter may or may not see a wee crossover with a certain British political comedy, if only because the idea of the Rani, Kate, and Malcolm all in one room was WAY too good to pass up. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, let me know what you thought in a comment!


End file.
